Panama eliminates health restrictions for foreign travelers

The country reported that the QR or swabs will no longer be requested

The measures taken by the Government of Panama include the cessation of mandatory physical distancing and the capacity in places of great attendance, precautions that were duly ruled to prevent the spread of COVID in the territory. In the same way, it is established that it will no longer be necessary to request QR and swabs.

The official statement from the Panamanian authorities attributes the significant decrease in mortality and hospitalization indicators to the results achieved with the national and global vaccination campaign.

In addition, it announces that, although it was decided to dispense with specific restrictive measures, surveillance of health situations continues to be active and recommends that passengers not neglect their own health.

In this way, Panama seeks to increase the entry of passengers to the territory and promote the national economic reactivation. The country is the second destination with the most international arrivals with overnight stays in the Central American region, according to a report by ECLAC, becoming one of the main nodes for the distribution of air traffic and passengers in the West.

It is estimated that, in 2019, Panama received approximately 1.8 million overnight international tourists, in addition to receiving more than 6.6 million excursionists or short-stay travelers, a category that includes transit passengers. Thanks to this flow of passengers, Panama received approximately US$ 4.6 billion in income from foreign visitors, allowing the tourism sector to generate approximately 5.8% of that country’s GDP and some 119 thousand direct jobs, which is equivalent to 6.2% of total employment in Panama.

According to the report, the projected losses between 2020 and 2023 could place Panama in second place among the countries in the subregion most affected by the global collapse of international tourist flows as a result of the pandemic. The measures adopted by the Panamanian government seek to reduce the negative impact on the economy of the sector and the community in general.