(Panama Digest) Panama comes in 56 of 139 countries in this year’s World Economic Forum Travel & Tourism Competitiveness index.
The report is published every two years and measures the factors and policies that make it attractive to develop the travel and tourism sector in different countries. It is based on three broad categories of variables that facilitate or drive travel and tourism competitiveness: the T&T regulatory framework subindex; the T&T business environment and infrastructure subindex and the T&T human, cultural, and natural resources subindex.
Although Panama showed competitive advantage in its prioritization of travel and tourism, detailed country indexes indicated that Panama is still lacking in areas such as health and hygiene, human resources, cultural resources, the quality of the ground transportation network and the attitude of population toward foreign visitors.
Of the 25 countries in the Americas, Panama came in eighth behind the United States, Canada, Barbados, Mexico, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico and Brazil. Switzerland, Germany and France were deemed the most attractive destinations for travel and tourism on the global index.
Cacique Beach, Contadora Island, Panama / PHOTO PD