In a time of opening post Covid-19 and with the tourism industry working around the clock to recover the market and time lost due to confinement, two components must be taken into account: public health along with the population and the tourist. These two points are emphasized by Dr. Marta Illueca when she comments on how we can promote tourism in these times.
We Must Educate on the Value of Tourism
People have to be aware that to return to the numbers of foreign Visitors before the pandemic, we must be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity. For Dr. Illueca it is the only way, not only for a tourism come back, but to also bring back to life both the economic and cultural activities in the country. The doctor emphasizes that this is achieved by looking at the situation beyond doing it for survival, that it is vital to see it as the way in which everyone in the country will be able to return stronger at all levels of society.
Can this be achieved?
Dr. Illueca answers this question by highlighting that Panama is one of the Latin American countries, which has been at the forefront in everything related to vaccination from very early in the pandemic. Bilateral arrangements were reached, directly with the laboratories producing the vaccines such as Pfizer and Astra Zeneca, and also having subscribed to the Covax mechanism of the World Health Organization (WHO). Dr. Illueca indicates that having started the vaccination in a practical way and before other countries in the region, puts the country back on track and in good shape towards achieving that long-awaited herd immunization.
Tourists are Coming
Given the uncertainty about whether the country can handle international tourism at this time, Dr. Illueca gives us a glimpse of the figures that places us as one of the countries that has kept the fatality rates from Covid-19 among the lowest in the world, with a death rate of 1.7% in recent months. Likewise, she emphasizes that the country has managed careful its public health measures such as quarantine, border surveillance, airports, and the gradual opening of economic segments.
Tourist Walking Safely in Our Country
Dr. Illueca thinks that Panama has a fairly up-to-date medical system. By having the Gorgas Memorial Institute who detected in less than two weeks after the first case of Covid-19 came in the country last year, they had already sequenced the virus and they quickly manage to sequence the variants when they arrive in our territory, this gives us an advantage to our country over others in the region. Doctor Illueca goes on to say that the country also has advanced and tertiary care hospitals in such a way that tourists, having passed the health requirements, whether they are vaccinated or have presented negative Covid-19 tests, can be sure that they are in a country that implements a careful and strict epidemiological surveillance.
