The president of the Panamanian Chamber of Tourism (CAMTUR), Ernesto Orillac, regarded this negative message as ‘regrettable and serious’, and explained that the largest flow of holidaymakers to his country comes from the United States, because access to Panama is practically closed from South America.

Orillac praised Foreign Minister Erika Mouynes’s stance, as she instructed the Panamanian ambassador in Washington to present a formal note to the US Government ‘with arguments why we do not consider an appropriate Level 4 Travel Health Notice for Panama.’

‘This must be checked because in health matters we are much better than others in Latin America. The United States, however, has included us on such a list and it is another blow to the industry,’ Orillac noted.

He explained that international operators make their catalogs and offers three to six months in advance, ‘so you cannot have a country that is open today and close tomorrow for one reason or another’ and this conditions tourism recovery, he added.

jg/pll/mem / orm/cvl