In the framework of International Tourism Fair (Fitur), which takes place in the city of Madrid, Spain, the administrator of the Panama Tourism Authority (ATP), Iván Eskildsen, received from the president of Grupo Excelencias, Juan Carlos de Santiago, the “Tourist Excellence” award, given to the “Indigenous Panama Circuit”.
This circuit has been developed based on the Tourism-Conservation-Research (TCI) model, a key part of the Sustainable Tourism Master Plan (PMTS 2020-2025), in which community tourism is established as the central axis for Panama to be recognized as a world-class sustainable tourist destination, details a press release from the ATP.
The election was in charge of a jury made up of nine personalities of different nationalities, prominent in the tourism, art and gastronomy industry, who considered that the support plan executed by the ATP for the integration of Panamanian ethnic groups strengthens the rapprochement with indigenous peoples based on what is established in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Under the premise of this declaration, the Panamanian government for the first time carried out a procefree and informed prior consultation with the 12 traditional authorities of the indigenous peoples, in order to form and develop the Panama Indigenous Circuit.
Ehe circuit highlights the contact with the pristine nature that surrounds these peoples and includes elements of their worldview in the development of tourist experiences, with which it seeks to position community tourism in indigenous communities as one of the most competitive and interesting products in the region.
The Excelencias Awards are given, every year, during the development of Fitur, which this year is celebrated in its forty-second version from January 19 to 23, with the participation of 107 countries, linked to the tourism industry sector.
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