Tourism Cares is set to launch its Global Meaningful Travel Summit in partnership with Visit Panama. The event will be held June 1–6 in several regions across the country, including Panama City, the Pacific Riviera, El Valle de Anton and the region of Achiote in Colón. The event will convene more than 40 travel and tourism industry executives and leaders, including tour operators, advisors, media and industry associations.
With a focus on empowering communities through tourism, the Meaningful Travel Summit with Panama aims to inspire collective action among travel trade professionals by showcasing local Panamanian changemakers who are making a positive difference through tourism. Through hands-on workshops, immersive tours and experiences and panel discussions, Summit participants will learn how different travel industry segments can contribute to sustainable development and environmental stewardship in Panama and beyond. The objectives of this year’s global Summit include:
- Empowering communities through tourism
- Encouraging cultural exchange
- Safeguarding natural, cultural and agricultural resources
- Fostering community collaboration
- Inspiring collective action amongst the travel trade and local communities
Through these programmatic areas, attendees will be charged with creating takeaways and commitments on how they can positively change their lives and others upon their return—at work, at home, and within the communities that they serve.
As part of Visit Panama’s commitment to Tourism Cares’ Meaningful Travel Program, the country launched its Meaningful Travel Map, an interactive tool for the travel trade that showcases vetted, sustainable, community-led enterprises, products, services, accommodations and tours. It includes 20 local organizations that work to promote cultural heritage, environmental conservation, Indigenous communities and regenerative practices. To further build connections with the trade and these local impact partners, attendees will engage with several of the map’s impact partners through immersive tours and experiences, including: Trapiche Tio Evello, Organización Ecoturística Amigos de San Lorenzo Los Rapaces, Movimiento Cultural Identidad and Biomuseo.
To further support impact-driven organizations in Panama with capacity building, education initiatives, and infrastructure, Tourism Cares has invested $18,000 in grant funding to three Panamanian organizations through the Tourism Cares Impact Travel Fund. Supported by the Tauck Ritzau Innovative Philanthropy (TRIP) Foundation, the recipients include Biomuseo (the Museum of Biodiversity), Fundacion Los Naturalistas (The Naturalists Foundation) and Fundación Panameña de Turismo Sostenible (The Panama Foundation for Sustainable Tourism/APTSO). This grant program will help grantees expand their social and environmental impact and enable them to become more market-ready for the tourism sector.
For more information, visit tourismcares.org.
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