Panama vs. Costa Rica: Which is Better?
In the past few years, Panama has become a magnet for large scale real estate developments due to its natural beauty, thriving banking industry, government incentives and premium infrastructure. This popular country in Central America is considered to be one of the current hottest real estate markets in the World with big time developers such as Donald Trump currently developing large scale high rise projects valued well over $260 Million in Panama City. The government´s tourism board has recently announced that their plan is to beat Costa Rica in tourist arrivals and become leaders in the Central American Tourism Industry which has lead some to claim that Panama is "the new Costa Rica". Panama has recently announced that it will expand the Panama Canal with a project valued at $5,250 Million Dollars and that will take approximately 7 years to complete. This project will attract large amounts of foreign capital, investors and companies that will improve considerably the economy and has positioned the country as a World leader in development and construction. In my opinion, even though Panama is one of the hottest real estate markets in the World and a strong contender, I don´t think that Panama will ever be "the new Costa Rica".
Unlike its neighbor in the South, Costa Rica´s tourism and real estate industry was born by the effort of small hotel owners, tourist operators, entrepreneurs and a visionarry government that have all worked hard together to promote tourism in Costa Rica, conserve the local culture, preserve the environment and developed the concept of "eco-tourism". This development has caused Costa Rica to have a more organic and natural development in which nature and culture are preserved among development. Panama´s trend is geared more towards the development of large mega projects similar to those found in North American and Asian cities in which high rises take over the sky lines. Even though Panama has better natural beauty and resources than Costa Rica, it is Costa Rica´s unique conservation laws, organic tourism industry, high quality workforce and world fame that makes it unlikely for Panama to be the new Costa Rica.
Will Panama attract more tourism than Costa Rica in the future? Definitely. This country is larger, has better infrastructure such as roads, airports and ports, it has better financing conditions and tax-free incentives. But the bottom line is that Panama is being developed just as Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Miami and Acapulco among other destinations that feature similar conditions and will thus become typical. Costa Rica will continue to offer a unique experience of eco-tourism and its emphasis is towards quality not quantity. For example, just the Peninsula Papagayo project in Northern Guanacaste features an investment of about $750 Million and recently Steve Case has announced a new project in Playa Hermosa with a total investment of over $900 Million. The best news about all this is that all of these projects are geared towards low-density sustainable resorts that emphasize conservation of the environment among its guests.
This is why I believe that Costa Rica is better than Panama and will continue to be a leader in Central American Tourism.