The American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) filled the Grand Ballroom at the Hotel Miramar on September 4 with its second international tourism forum. The event was held in English --- a lot of AMCHAM events aren't, as the group's membership is largely composed of Panamanians with business ties to the United States --- with simultaneous translation into Spanish for the minority of participants who needed it. This reporter attended with hopes and expectations of interesting things to write about from one of the scheduled presentations, and boring stuff to ignore from some of the others. It turned out, however, other than as expected.

To be sure, there were a panelist or two who didn't contribute much and those in attendance were treated to a few rah rah routines about projects involving much less than meets the eye. However the suspicions and stereotypes harbored beforehand were largely dispelled when the stellar performances and disappointments came from unexpected quarters.

The introduction was by the event's coordinator, Nancy Hanna, who runs Panamainfo, a website that used to be officially endorsed by the government's IPAT tourism bureau. Say what one might about Panamainfo's qualities, the size of its readership, or the wisdom of IPAT's choice of preferred websites, Hanna clearly organized a whopping success of a forum. That was evident by a first glance at the size of the crowd and by the general quality of the presentations and panel discussion.

The first presentation was by Santiago Berguido and Donna Sanchiz of the BBDO/Ketchum consortium, which has the $10 million government contract to promote Panamanian tourism abroad. This presentation was the main reason why I thought beforehand that the forum would be newsworthy and informative.

Berguido began with the claim that "this campaign has gotten some great results this year." Noting that last year tourism accounted for 8.5 percent of Panama's Gross Domestic Product, he placed the industry in second place among the nation's economic engines, accounting for more than the Panama Canal but less than the Colon Free Zone. "We have put Panama on the map," Berguido claimed.

(Hmmmm --- didn't those payments that Panama makes to the cruise ship lines for each passenger who sets foot ashore here have something to do with our performance this past tourism season? Didn't the shift of cruise ships and European passengers from the politically troubled Eastern Mediterranean to our part of the world also play a role?)

Berguido explained that the $10 million is being spent to "make Panama a brand," using the slogan "Panama: the path less traveled." He said that this country is being presented as "pure and unspoiled," "not a tourist trap," and "accessible, yet exotic." The target audience is adults over age 35 with annual incomes of $75,000 or more, who have university educations, are urban or suburban residents and are experienced world travelers. People in this group, Berguido said, "spend 60 percent more in a three-day visit." (Than whom?)

Focus groups of people fitting this demographic profile were presented with the pitch, Berguido explained, and there was "total acceptance" of the campaign. He said that the campaign has included ads in magazines like Food & Wine and National Geographic, and that there are three new TV spots for US television and cable markets. He also pointed to a call center, a database, literature mailings to people who ask for information with the response cards that go with magazine ads, and a website that got 8,000 visits in August. (In other words, they are plugging the website in National Geographic, Food & Wine, etc. and yet they get many fewer visits than sites like The Panama News and the CZBrats, which lack the resources to promote themselves in expensive international media but still publicize Panama's attractions to many more people.)

"Our campaign is aimed at sustainable growth," Sanchiz said, as she launched into some of the particulars in her part of the presentation.

The consortium is directing its appeals to markets in North America, Latin America and Europe. In the latter region, the pitch is being made in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, France and the UK.

BBDO/Ketchum make the rounds of tourism industry trade shows, along with IPAT bigwigs. They sponsor visits by travel writers from abroad, and count every positive story about Panama (they count 377 since the campaign began) as a success. They are playing up the discovery of an old ship that may be Christopher Columbus's Vizcaina nd counting all coverage of it as the product of their campaign. (Funny how many people want to claim credit for that discovery and the interest it has generated, especially compared to how few are actually doing anything to promote the project to raise, preserve and display the 16th-century vessel.)

Getting down to some of the figures, Sanchiz said that of the $10 million budgeted for the campaign, $6.2 million is going for "media buys," with $500,000 for advertising in Europe, $1.5 million in Latin America and $4.2 million in the United States. She said that Panama has already recouped its advertising investment, and then some.

Questions were reserved for the end of the event, and by way of handing in written queries to be selectively presented to panel members. (Really, that was the only reasonable way to proceed because there were lots of questions, there was limited time and people didn't come to hear self-promoting speeches from the floor.) My question to BBDO/Ketchum didn't get asked or answered, but one query that did get a response from Berguido was about the amount of money that has already been spent on advertising. He said that about half of the $6.2 million ad budget has been spent. I wanted to know how much of the ad budget was directed toward North American television and when and where such spots have been or will be shown.

The next panelist was Mark Campbell, a travel agent and member of the Virtuoso network of agencies. Due to airline budget cutting and competition from the Internet, the travel agent is a dying breed, but Campbell and the network of which he is part have been carving their niche among upscale "experiential travelers," selling "powerful personal experiences, carefully targetted to personal characteristics."

That is, not the third-rate costume characters who greet passengers at Colon 2000, not the traditional guided group tour, not the get blasted by night and lay on the beach by day packages.

Campbell concurred with Berguido and Sanchiz about targetting Panama's appeal to upscale clientele, recommending that we compete on the basis of value rather than price. He identified people aged 55 to 75 as the biggest consumers of experiential tourism, and said that the state of war that has existed since September 11 of last year has changed American's values and travel habits.

"It can't be phony tourism and work," Campbell warned, explaining that the sorts of customers he serves would rather visit an unglamorous tribal village to see how people live and think than witness a song and dance show in a staged setting.

The next panelist was Patricia Alisau, the editor of the Panama section of the "Fodors Travel Guide to Central America." According to BBDO/Ketchum's Donna Sanchiz, Alisau is the one travel writer who has made the most visits to Panama that her program has sponsored.

It would have been a better forum had Alisau missed this trip. Her presentation might have qualified as gushy, had she not read her speach in the most irritatingly plodding way. She had the Decameron south, rather than west, of the capital. She mispronounced Coiba, which she plugged as "the next Galapagos." She talked of the Canal Zone as if it still exists. She was exuberant about the Villas at the Gamboa Rainforest Resort, without noting that they are almost entirely empty.

It's not that Panama can't use someone saying positive things about its tourist attractions, but this business audience was there for serious purposes, and didn't need to waste its time on fluff.

Next came another travel writer, Panama native and Stanford grad Bill Friar, author of the "Adventures in Panama" travel guide. He turned out to be the event's star performer.

AMCHAM wanted someone to address the problems that Panamanian tourism faces, and Friar filled the bill. "Panama has an absolutely terrible reputation" in North America, he began, noting that we seem to get on the news mainly in relation to crime and political turmoil.

Friar was not a mere naysayer. He noted several positive developments, including the Canopy Tower near Gamboa and attractions in Kuna Yala, Bocas del Toro and the Chiriqui highlands. Some of the places he recommended are pricey, others not at all.

But there are some clear distinctions between the best and the rest, and according to Friar "the most important piece of the puzzle that's missing is good service." Though he credited IPAT for at least having their tourist booths at Tocumen Airport staffed on this visit, he was not the only person to note the grungy condition of our gateway for international visitors.

Friar defended the tourist of modest means, arguing that the backpackers who come here for an adventure will go home and tell stories that will bring more affluent visitors if the experience is right. "I don't think that huge developments are the answer," he also opined. As a competitor in the highrises above sun and sand category, he thinks that Panama is likely to lose and shouldn't bother, but he believes that our tourism industry can win big if it sells our unique natural and cultural attractions.

Next came another surprisingly good presentation, by developer Sam Taliaferro. A man who made his fortune as an inventor and industrialist, Taliaferro is married to a Panamanian and became enamored of Boquete. Now he's building Valle Escondido, a $35 million "offshore retirement community," there.

How much of the presentation about his own project was hype is hard to tell without visiting the place, but Taliaferro had some important things to say about tourism in general. First, and somewhat out of his own business orbit, he emphasized a need to encourage internal tourism, to get Panamanians with money to spend to prefer Boquete or Bocas over Disney World.

Taliaferro noted that when retirees relocate to Panama from the United States to live, friends and relatives come down to visit them and this generates more tourism for the entire country. He argued that, despite the upscale nature of his own development (the houses go from $160,000 to $500,000), the biggest thing he has going for him is a Panamanian cost of living that's much lower than in the United States.

To make projects like his successful, Taliaferro urged Panama to "strengthen the rule of law," reform its labor code and either eliminate the legally mandated retiree discounts or have the government reimburse businesses for the costs that are imposed by them.

The final presentation was by Coldwell Banker's Henry Altman, whose real estate specialty has been golf course communities. He noted that in North America almost all waterfront property is developed or off limits to developers, and in either case way beyond the means of working people and middle class retirees. Panama, however, can fill the demand for such living places.

Altman recommended the creation of a good map for tourists, an ad campaign that emphasizes how safe Panama is, and an appeal aimed at getting people who were stationed here with the US military to come back. "If we wait for IPAT," he warned, "we will be waiting for a long while."

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