Is Panama ready for tourism?

Having just returned from the third of three 10-day Southern Caribbean cruises I’m doing with Holland America on the VOLENDAM, the highlight of which is the Panama Canal, I have some observations about Panama and tourism, from a tourist’s view.  The 10-day Southern Caribbean cruise is round trip from Fort Lauderdale and visits Holland America’s magnificent Half Moon Cay (actually Little San Salvador in the Bahamas), Aruba, Curacao, Panama and Costa Rica.  It is so popular that this fall the larger ZUIDERDAM will take over the program. 

Half Moon Cay is the kind of port cruise lines and guests love: the cruise line controls everything.  It is a Disneyesque creation of the ideal beach resort with bar staff, food and bands brought off the ship.  Everything is spotless, tours and activities are controlled by the ship.  Folks love it.

People also like Aruba, not sure why, but they do.  I guess I remember when Aruba was a sleepy little island with one or two beach hotels and a few tiny, little shops with Dutch cheese and Delft.  Now it’s this huge, in my estimation kind of junky, town that screams “Just give us your money and leave!”   All the usual suspects are there – Diamonds International, Columbia Emeralds, Little Switzerland, yada yada.  I’m not a diamond shopper but bought a pair of Crocs for $40 – same shoes $35 at Miami Airport and $25 in Panama City.  Oh well.

Curacao has some of the same “Duty Free” shops but tucked away in a UNESCO village setting.  Over the years I’ve watched as many of the old Dutch buildings from slavery days have been lovingly restored and new buildings have adhered to the the same architectual style.  It’s a clean, cute, and historically significant island that is proud of its diverse heritage.   It’s an easy place to explore on foot at the Kura Hollanda museum about the slave trade is beautifully presented and a must stop.

Then we hit Panama.  The Canal is THE highlight!  At 5:30AM people are up on deck in the darkness as we enter the breakwater.  Around 6:30-7:00AM the ship enters Gatun Locks.  This is why people came and they love it!  The ship enters Gatun Lake where it disembarks about half of the passengers.  Around 800 people are tendered to shore where they board buses for various shore excursions, while the rest of the passengers choose to remain on board and return through Gatun Locks to Colon.

Observations:

• Compared to other ports of call the primary shore excursion operators seem disorganized.  The buses are definitely second rate, although certainly better than buses locals use.  The guides generally have heavy accents and speak English in rapid-fire-Spanish-style so the guests, many of whom are older, can’t understand. 
• The roads in and around Colon are hell.  The main road is filthy, under construction, and jammed with traffic.  It’s not unusual for guests to spend 1.5-2 hours on the bus each way to see anything.  Incredibly bus drivers sometimes don’t know where they are going or take what they consider short cuts over incredibly bumpy roads.  The impression many guests have when they come back to the ship is how filthy Panama is, with all the garbage and trash along the Colon area roads.
• Coming back to meet the ship in Colon, either at Cristobal Pier or Colon 2000, they drive through some of the most impoverished parts of Colon.  They have already been warned that it is not safe for them to leave the port areas in Colon.  They see what is perceived to be a third world city. 
• Colon 2000, which Holland America usually uses, is a laugh.  Presumably a project of Carnival, it consists of a few second rate shops and lots of empty store fronts.  The high spot is a Super 99 supermarket.  Cristobal is an old pier that has nicely been redone with shops and a few eating and drinking spots.  The high point is a huge selection of Kuna and Embera crafts being sold by Indians themselves.

Then comes Costa Rica which, aside from the Canal itself, is the highlight for most cruise passengers.  The shore ex people love Costa Rica because Costa Rica gets tourism!  Now I grant you, tourism is the primary business of Costa Rica, while in Panama it’s just a tiny blip on the radar.  The tourist infrastructure is well-developed with clean, modern attractions designed to meet the needs of tourists including the newest buses with PA systems that actually work, educated and licensed guides that are knowledgeable and speak understandable English, and little things tourists like such as bathrooms.  The Costa Rican roads, at least around Puerto Limon – not to be confused with roads in the rest of the country – are new and smooth, and the roadways are clean and not strewn with trash.  (Don’t underestimate the importance of “clean” with American tourists.  It doesn’t have to be wealthy, just clean.  Cleanliness is equated with personal and national pride.)

So when the ship sails from Costa Rica, and guests talk about returning indepenently, guess which country they talk about coming back to visit in depth?  Costa Rica of course!  Panama is a fond memory of the Canal itself, but when they talk about the rest of what they’ve seen in Panama it is about the filth and the horrible road to Colon.  Never mind that Colon is in many ways the “armpit” of Panama and that most of the country is much, much different.  All the negatives about Colon are what is the lasting impression.