The PGA Nationwide Tour 2008 starts with the Panama Movistar Championship

More than 130 golfers, including promising newcomers, will participate in the 600.000 US$ - tournament.

(Last year's winner Miguel Carballo/Argentina.
Source: www.clubgolf.com.pa)


For the 4th time the Nationwide Tour will start its season in Panama City, Panama. Between the 24th and 27th of January 2008, 132 golfers from the 5 continents will compete at the Panama Movistar Championship 2008. Venue is the Cerro Viento Panama Golf Club.

One of the favorites is Miguel Carballo of Argentina, who won the tournament last year with a 274 score and finished 30th on last year’s Nationwide Tour money list. He was the first Argentinean player ever to win a Nationwide Tour event.

The first winner of the Panama Movistar Championship has been Jimmy Walker (USA) with a 273 score in the year 2004, followed by Vance Veazey (USA) with a 272 score in 2005 and Tripp Isenhyour (USA) with a 269 score in 2006.

The 19th Nationwide Tour offers 19 million US$ price money.

The next tour stops will be in Mexico followed by New Zealand, Australia and the United States, all of them in March 2008. The schedule includes 30 tournaments and at the end of the year, the best 25 golfers in the Nationwide Tour money list will take part in the PGA Tour 2009 to compete with the best golf players of the world.

This year young up-coming golfers like Matt Every, Colt Knost, Spencer Levin, Daniel Summerhays and Casey Wittenberg will hopefully be able to spring a surprise.

The Panama Golf Club has a rich tradition of hosting the Nationwide Tour and other events. World Golf Hall of Fame members such as Curtis Strange (1981), Arnold Palmer (1956), Sam Snead (1954) and Roberto De Vicenzo (five times) are past winners at the Panama Golf Club.


(Golf Club Panama, source: www.clubgolf.com.pa)

Panama launches new international promotion campaign

Panama, January 9, 2008. Tourism minister Ruben Blades and the executive board of the Panama Tourism Bureau IPAT presented yesterday, together with governmental representatives, important personalities from the entrepreneurial world and colleagues from the tourism industry, the new international promotion campaign under the slogan “Panama – It will never leave you”.

The new campaign is part of the IPAT marketing and communication strategy and promises to give continuity to the remarkable boost in respect of the number of tourists which have been coming to Panama in the last years. Within the next five years 9.5 million US$ will be spent for the development of a program including promotion, publicity, public relations, market research and trade marketing to make Panama one of the most preferred international tourist destinations.

“This campaign is extremely different to other international tourism campaigns for its innovative elements” explained Ruben Blades, minister of the Panama Tourism Bureau IPAT. “To achieve a successful campaign we worked together with famous personalities and one of the most awarded and creative producers of the last years”.

By means of a new corporate image, new communication channels and new marketing tools like TV-Spots, advertising campaigns and direct marketing, the international traveler will get full service and receive all the informations he needs, be it for business trips or holiday plannings.

The consistent refinement, including the redesign and the restructure of the official webpage of Panama (www.visitpanama.com), will assure the further growth of the touristic boom in Panama, which already is the major part in gross domestic product.

Great tools for tourists for example are the interactive information booths, which in the first step will be installed on important hotspots like airports and shopping centers. Travelers can find out about all kind of information, like exchange offices, malls, hotels, restaurants till specific information about Panamanian destinations.

Panama keeps on growing and forecasts indicate a touristic inversion round about 918 millions US$ till 2009. This year Panama can count on 1.206 new additional habitations and an estimated 2.800 new employments in the tourism industry.

“The positioning of the brand “Panama” is the primary step and with this campaign we surely will achieve it”, explained Kathy Guardia, Director of Marketing and Communications of the Panama Tourism Bureau IPAT. “The valuable brand Panama will be synonymous to fantastic experiences and unforgettable impressions in the North American, Latin American and European markets”.

The accomplished efforts of the Panama Tourism Bureau to promote Panama as a preferential tourist destination include important cooperations with private companies as well as foreign investment companies – airlines, cruise lines, etc.

The new campaign is, without a doubt, conform to the Sustainable Tourist Development Master Plan of Panama 2007 – 2020, which recently has been launched by the Tourism Minister Ruben Blades. The implementation of this new Master Plan is formulating action plans and development inversions for the different touristic products, organizing statistics of the tourism sector, designing a promotion and international commercialization strategy and elaborating a national long term strategy to bring forward the tourism of the Republic of Panama.

Panama to celebrate 5th Annual Jazz Festival

Jazz meets Panama, the upcoming tourism destination 2008

Panama, January 3, 2008. Panama once more will be the hotspot of the international Jazz scene, celebrating the 5th annual Jazz Festival from the 21. – 26. of January 2008. Well known stars and artists will change the capital of the exotic isthmus Panama in a vibrating and animating stage. It’s all about art, culture and pleasure and the experience between the best musicians, the Panamanian people and the visitors from all over the world.

The 5th annual Panama Jazz Festival will present famous artists like one of the most creative musicians of Jazz, the guitarist Stanley Jordan as well as the vocalist Catherine Russell, daughter of the Jazz artist Luis Russell, the Grammy award winning Caribbean Jazz Project, the saxophonist Tia Fuller from New York and the Kelly Johnson Quartett.

Ruben Blades, Panama’s Tourism Minister, explained that „Panama can’t expect the arrival of all the luminaries of the international Jazz world and the tourists, which want to be part of the fantastic Panama Jazz Festival.

On January 23rd will take place the Gala Night, dedicated to the Bolero. Artists like Marcela Troesch, Cutito Larrinaga, Edgardo Quintero, Danilo Pérez Senior, other special guests and representatives of the new Panamanian Jazz- and folklore generation assured their participation.

“This event is a great possibility to promote our country and has the full support of the Panama Tourism Bureau IPAT. Without a doubt an international highlight of Panama inspired exclusively by a Panamanian”, confirmed Rubén Blades.

According to Ruben Blades, “Panama is taking care of its cultural development and always is looking for individual and unique touristic offers. From the beginning Panama has been part of Jazz music, like Luis Russell, for example”.

Not only will the audience enjoy the pleasance of the Panama Jazz Festival, but also music students. In addition to the concerts, the Panama Jazz Festival will offer classes taught by students and professors of the New England Conservatory, the Berklee College of Music, the Puerto Rico Conservatory and the Thelonious Monk Institute.

The Panama Jazz Festival is organized by the extraordinary Panamanian composer and pianist Danilo Perez, which is one of the most influential musicians of our time. He has been nominated various times for a Grammy Award, which he finally earned in 2006.

For more information please check out: www.panamajazzfestival.com and www.visitpanama.com