RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Panama’s Copa Airlines and the Tourism Promotion Fund (Promtur) announced Thursday the resumption of the Panama Stopover program, which offers travelers in transit through Tocumen International Airport, Panama’s main airport, the incentive of an extended stay in the country at no additional cost to the airline ticket.
With the same ticket and at no additional cost to their airfare, travelers will be able to visit two destinations for one, staying in Panama between one and six nights, taking advantage of their transit through the so-called “Hub of the Americas” located at Tocumen International Airport, a regional hub, said a Copa Airlines press release.
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Fernando Fondevila, director of Promtur Panama, highlighted that the reactivation of this marketing and sales alliance with Copa Airlines through the Panama Stopover is focused “immediately” on the 9 U.S. cities whose travelers transit through Panama to South America.
Through the campaign “Two incredible destinations with a lot in common”, the Panama Stopover is initially aimed at potential tourists from major US cities with interest in traveling to a “select” number of countries in Central and South America, their preferred destinations in Latin America and with a similar tourism offering to Panama.
The airline explained that the program could be included in the itinerary to or from any destinations in the 28 countries where Copa Airlines operates.
Pedro Heilbron, CEO of Copa Airlines, said that Panama Stopover aims to “boost international tourism and highlight Panama’s many tourist attractions and diverse cultural richness to travelers who pass through Tocumen International Airport each year.”
“This strategic alliance is a key piece for the reactivation of the sector and the economic recovery of the country, through the impulse to the demand of tourists that initially will arrive in transit to our country”, said the general administrator of the Panama Tourism Authority (ATP), Iván Eskildsen.
According to official figures, Panama’s economy, severely hit by the pandemic, collapsed by 17.9% in 2020 and by 8.5% in the first quarter of this year.
Originally launched in late 2019, the program was very well received. According to official information, the main tourism products it promotes are the city, culture, nature, beaches, and gastronomy.