Panama's TCR Action Plan

Abstract

This update of Panama's Tourism-Conservation-Research (TCR) Action Plan for sustainable economic development shows that the plan is moving full steam ahead under a new administration and has the guidance of an expert team of leading economists, scientists, architects, and others. The collaborative effort has produced a web of 23 heritage routes that form the core of the TCR plan for attracting investments and visitors. These routes highlight Panama's position as a crossroads of the American and European civilizations and as an important research laboratory where scientists continue to learn about tropical ecosystems. The heritage routes are grouped into three categories: thematic, chronological, and spatial. It will be possible to develop different tourist itineraries on the basis of each heritage route (i.e., theme) or to combine several routes into larger circuits. The idea is to use the routes to link hotels and interpretive centers with conservation and research projects that will attract tourists while accruing benefits to the surrounding communities. The action plan calls for strategic alliances through which hospitality developers and managers base their investments on having access to that knowledge which will enrich the tourist experience, and through which alliances they can also finance the protection of heritage assets that, in turn, create demand for tourism products. Such renowned experts as economist Theodore Panayotou and architect Frank O. Gehry are under contract to the government of Panama to help accomplish the TCR goals, while leading hospitality specialists, such as IH&RA's Guillermo Rocha and Ken Hine, are among those who have voiced support for the TCR concept.