Panama Just Had Its Most Profitable Tourism Year Ever — $6.6 Billion and 3 Million Visitors

Panama Just Had Its Most Profitable Tourism Year Ever — $6.6 Billion and 3 Million Visitors

The numbers landed quietly in a March report, but they're anything but quiet: Panama welcomed exactly 3,004,266 international visitors in 2025, an 8.2 percent jump over the previous year, generating $6.583 billion in tourism revenue — up 9.7 percent and the highest figure the country has ever recorded.

Tocumen International Airport — the aviation hub that connects Central America to the world — carried the heaviest load, processing 2.2 million of those arrivals, a 9.1 percent increase year-over-year. Cruise ports added their own muscle, with more ships scheduling Panama calls as the Canal's draw grows. What the numbers collectively signal is a structural shift: Panama has stopped functioning primarily as a transit stop between continents and started functioning as the destination itself. Visitors are staying longer, spending more broadly, and returning.

When a country's largest industry grows by nearly 10 percent and pushes nearly $7 billion through hotels, restaurants, boat operators, dive schools, and jungle guides, the ripple is real and fast. The expats in Boquete feel it. The hostel owners in Bocas feel it. The pangas ferrying tourists to San Blas feel it.

Gobble's Take: The secret is out — book your corner of Panama before the crowd that's already coming gets there first.

Sources: Travel and Tour World · Newsroom Panama · Casa Solution

Copa Airlines Just Added More Nonstop US-Panama Flights — and the Math on Getting Here Just Changed

For years, flying from a mid-sized American city to Panama City meant at least one layover, usually in Miami or Bogotá, and a travel day that ate half your first afternoon. Copa Airlines — Panama's flag carrier, based at Tocumen — has been quietly dismantling that friction by adding nonstop routes from more US cities, and the effect on the economics of a Panama trip is real.

Fewer connections mean no missed bags, no overnight hotel near a US hub, and a total door-to-door time that suddenly competes with a Caribbean resort weekend. Copa is clearly reading the same tourism data Panama's government just published: 3 million visitors and climbing. The airline is betting that more Americans will choose Panama over Cancún or San Juan once the flight path is direct and the price is honest.

For travelers already in Panama or planning to visit, this expansion also means more departure options — which translates to better seat availability, more flexible return dates, and the kind of fare competition that only shows up when carriers actually fight for a route.

Gobble's Take: Search Copa's route map before you default to a Caribbean all-inclusive — your nearest airport may now have a nonstop to Panama City you didn't know existed.

Source: Travel and Tour World

Bocas del Toro Is Open Again — Here's What Shut It Down

In late April 2025, banana workers in Bocas del Toro took to the streets to protest pension reforms that threatened their early retirement rights. The demonstrations blocked key roads into the province — including highways from David and Boquete to the port town of Almirante. Over six weeks, ferries stopped, flights stalled, and tourism vanished. Hotels emptied. Local guides and boat captains lost their income entirely.

The turning point came on June 11, when the Panamanian government moved a bill forward to restore the workers' pension rights. Union leaders agreed to lift the roadblocks in response. By June 12, access to Bocas del Toro was fully restored. Boat tours are running again. Roads are clear. The archipelago's beaches and rainforests are quiet — but now in the good way.

The timing is worth noting. Fewer tourists means more room on the water, more attention from guides, and more of your spending going directly to people who just spent six weeks with zero income. Infrastructure is still recovering, so bring cash and stay flexible — but the destination is functional and ready.

Gobble's Take: If you've been eyeing Bocas del Toro, the window right after a disruption — when crowds are thin and locals genuinely need the business — is often the best time to go.

Source: Book Panama Tours

In Case You Missed It

Yesterday's top stories:

• Panama's Caribbean Coast Just Got Its First Overwater Bungalows — Inside a UNESCO World Heritage Site
• Star Princess — All 175,000 Gross Tons of It — Just Made Its First Panama Canal Transit
• Panama City Is Flying to Toronto and Montreal This May to Sell Itself to Event Planners