Figueroa, a tourism visionary (from the PANAMA MEDICAL TOURISM website)

Figueroa, a tourism visionary

by Lourdes Rivera
for the PANAMA AMERICA newspaper

Entrepreneur, writer and lover of his country, that’s Jaime Figueroa Navarro, President of the Tourism Commission at the Panama Association of Business Executives (APEDE).

Our appointment was at 11:00 a.m., with the intention of having a conversation and learning more about his future plans and real visions, his personal and business aspirations about tourism in Panama.

Well educated and, above all, always on time. His experience and expertise in tourism issues is evident at the onset of our conversation.

His resume includes prominent achievements, which helped his growth as an international business sales executive in the Americas and now as a tourism projects promoter and manager.

What arouses your interest in tourism?

After a significant absence away from Panama, one day in my home in the United States I wondered: What am I doing here so far away?  At that moment, I left my company and  returned to Panama.  When I arrived here in 2002, I visited every square mile of the country, including exotic sites such as the Darien National Park and I loved seeing all that Panama can offer if the isthmus can develop tourism efficiently.

What do you think about tourism development in Panama now?

We are in diapers. In 2007 we began the first professional effort to provide a boost to tourism as an industry, through the Master Plan.  The first thing we need to do is to create infrastructure, to cut down on travel time.

 

Do you believe the Master Plan is being met?

Taking into account that it is a guide, yes we are achieving it. However, we need additional efforts such as the complementary strategies to arouse the interest of tourists for those places inside the country and not to be concentrated only in the city.

What is your suggestion?

It is important to create focal tourist attraction in all provinces, for example at APEDE we are working in boosting projects such as the Museum of the Panamanian Pollera in the city of Las Tablas, joining our vision of a country that wrongly boasts of the capital as its focus and the interior as an annex.  What we want to give through this type of initiative is to highlight the own character of each province.

How the progress of this work is going?

Coincidentally, French architect Gilles Saint-Gilles, based in Panama, just gave me the drawings, through a donation. The museum has a round shape. The idea is to have living areas, we want to have seamstresses knitting polleras “live” in one of these capsules with air conditioning for them to work comfortably, much better than at home and be surrounded by glass for visitors to envision each step.

The museum will have five rooms dedicated to workshops, exhibitions, library and cafeteria, sales area, where you can purchase hats, jewelry and accessories.

Source: http://panamamedicaltourism.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=419:figueroa-a-tourism-visionary&catid=1:latest-news