Panama Is Done Selling Beaches. Now It's Selling Butterflies.

Panama Is Done Selling Beaches. Now It's Selling Butterflies.

Gloria De León, the head of Panama's tourism authority ATP, made it official: Panama is no longer in recovery mode. The country has pivoted to a long-term strategy centered on cultural heritage and natural experiences — think Emberá-Wounaan village stays, cloud forest hikes, and historical sites beyond the well-worn Casco Viejo cobblestones — over the generic sun-and-sand pitch that dominates Caribbean tourism marketing.

The ATP's 2026 plan calls for deeper investment in indigenous cultural programming, rainforest exploration routes, and biodiversity experiences across Panama's seven distinct ecological zones. The Panama Canal and Casco Viejo aren't going anywhere, but they're no longer the whole story. The strategy is explicitly designed to pull visitors away from Panama City and toward places like Darién, the Azuero Peninsula, and Guna Yala — destinations that rarely see tourists but hold some of the country's most striking landscapes and living traditions.

The underlying logic: nature-and-culture travelers tend to stay longer and spend more than beach-hoppers. For a country sitting between two oceans with more bird species than all of North America, that's not a bad hand to play.

Gobble's Take: If you've been waiting for an excuse to finally do that Guna Yala sailing trip or that Emberá day hike, Panama's government is now actively building the infrastructure around your trip — go before it gets crowded.

Source: Casa Solution

Boquete in January: 100,000 People, One Mountain Town, and the World's Most Expensive Coffee

Every January, the highland town of Boquete — population roughly 25,000 — absorbs more than 100,000 visitors in twelve days. The occasion is the International Flower and Coffee Fair, held this year from January 7–18, 2026, along the banks of the Caldera River in the Chiriquí highlands. The air smells like orchids and freshly roasted Geisha beans, and the streets fill with floral installations that take local growers months to prepare.

The fair began in 1950 as a modest coffee festival and expanded in 1973 to include the region's renowned flower gardens, eventually finding its permanent January home to take advantage of Panama's dry season. Today it's one of the most attended cultural events in the country: over 100 exhibitors, artisan markets, traditional Panamanian folk dancing, an amusement area for families, and direct-from-farm sampling of Geisha coffee — the variety that routinely sells at auction for over $1,000 per pound. If you've ever wanted to understand what that price is about, this is the place to do it.

Boquete sits about 45 minutes from the city of David (served by Copa Airlines from Panama City, roughly 55 minutes), and accommodation books out early for fair week. If you're planning to go, January is not the month to wing it.

Gobble's Take: A cup of Geisha at the source costs a fraction of what you'd pay at a specialty café in New York — January in Boquete is the best value in coffee tourism on the planet right now.

Source: The Visitor Panama

In Case You Missed It

Yesterday's top stories:

• Royal Caribbean Is Back in Colón After Nine Years — And Air Transat Is Following
• Bocas del Toro's Luxury Makeover: The Viceroy Resort Nears Opening
• Why Everyone Keeps Flying Copa — And Why Tocumen Is the Secret
• Book Now or Pay More: Jet Fuel Prices Are Hitting Panama Routes
• Beyond the Canal: Pavel and Yvonne Go Deep on Panama's Living History