Whenever a new national image appears, the first question is the obvious one: who created Panama’s country brand? The answer, for the 2026 brand “Panamá, Anfitrión del Mundo” (“Panama, Host of the World”), involves two institutions and one very visible political endorsement. Presented on August 26-27, 2026, the brand is the joint work of PROMTUR Panamá and the Autoridad de Turismo de Panamá (ATP), launched with the public backing of President José Raúl Mulino.
Who created Panama’s country brand: the key players
PROMTUR Panamá: the promoter
PROMTUR Panamá is the country’s destination marketing organization – the entity charged with promoting Panama to the world. Its job is to turn Panama’s assets (the Canal, two coastlines, the Hub of the Americas, a dollarized economy) into demand: more visitors, more flights, more international events. Leading the creation of the country brand is a natural extension of that mandate, because a nation brand is essentially the master campaign under which every other promotion lives.
The ATP: the authority
The Autoridad de Turismo de Panamá is the state tourism authority – the public institution that governs tourism policy, destination development and industry standards. Its co-leadership matters because it connects the brand to actual policy: infrastructure, tourism planning and the visitor experience on the ground. A brand created by marketers alone risks being a poster; one co-owned by the authority can shape what visitors actually find when they arrive.
The presidency: the guarantee
President Mulino’s role went beyond cutting a ribbon. He announced that the brand strategy will be sent to the National Assembly to be elevated into law, guaranteeing its permanence beyond changes of government. In a region where country brands are routinely discarded by incoming administrations, that commitment may be the most important creative decision of all.
What they built
The team distilled Panama into a purpose – “to host with generosity and promote prosperity” – supported by four attributes (generosity, connection, diversity, trust) and five strategic pillars (tourism, investment, exports, logistics, sustainability). The visual identity encodes the geography: blue for the oceans and Panama’s role as a global meeting point, red for the energy of its people, and the curves of the two letter “A”s representing the Pacific and the Atlantic with Panama connecting them.
- Replaced: “Panamá: vive por más” (2019)
- Launched: August 26-27, 2026
- Created by: PROMTUR Panamá + ATP
- Backed by: President José Raúl Mulino, with a law planned in the National Assembly
Why the authorship matters
Country brands succeed when institutions, industry and citizens pull in the same direction. Because the creators sit at the intersection of promotion (PROMTUR), policy (ATP) and state continuity (the presidency and a future law), “Anfitrión del Mundo” starts with more institutional muscle than most Latin American brands ever get. The next step is adoption: hotels, restaurants, exporters and event organizers making the brand their own. You can watch that adoption happen in real time on our events calendar and across the Discover Panama section, and local businesses that want to ride the wave can join the directory.
The people behind the brand set the table; the country now serves the meal. Browse the best hotels, restaurants and events of the Host of the World in the Panama Digital Directory and meet the Panama they were describing.
