While occupying second spot worldwide in tourism, with 58 million visitors annually, Spain has a vision, wide experience and an undeniable beacon of knowledge by being one of the most beautiful and rich nations in global cultural heritage. Previously, like us, the giant Iberian marketed primarily Sun and Beach Tourism, expanding recently to cultural tourism, an area in which Panama enjoys an enviable continental dominance.

 

To be enlightened on the subject, we recently had a visit from the Eighteenth Duke of Veraguas and President of The Foundation La Castilla del Oro in the Motherland, Don Cristóbal Colón de Carvajal y Gorosábel, a direct descendant of the discoverer of the Americas. During their mission, Don Pascual Montañés Duato, President of the Foundation in Panama, and Don Jaime Ruiz Peña, Main Director of Public Enterprises in Extremadura Province accompanied them.  In Spain, where tourism is a genuine walk through history, each route is marked with different backdrops, embracing the natural ingredient as the common denominator which shines in Panama.

 

At presentations during the extraordinary meeting of the APEDE Tourism Committee, a Committee which I am honored to chair, they explained the purpose of their recent visit. They announcing the donation of an image of Apostle Santiago to the oldest church in the Americas, Nata de los Caballeros, Coclé province, founded on May 20, 1522. To the knowledge of readers, the second church of a greater deanery on the continent still exists on the island of San Pedro. This was founded by Balboa in 1513 and is best known for its village, Taboga. Through various programs, the Foundation assists in strengthening isthmian, rural, cultural tourism amongst its visitors. One such effort is the potential development of Camino Real, between Panama City and Portobelo. As a tourist trail, this would complement the Santiago Path of Compostela in Spain and would end up becoming a colossal attraction by adding hundreds of thousands of annual visitors to the isthmus.