Portobelo, Panama - Summer 2003

Promoting Tourism to Enable Economic Development in Portobelo, Panama

In May of 2003, WIVP conducted a project in Portobelo, Panama with PRODES (Proyecto de Desarollo Turistico del Municipio de Portobelo) to help an artisan-run craft organization, Manos de Portobelo, develop a sales and marketing and product plan.

Background

Portobelo is a harbor city in central Panama on the Caribbean Sea. Founded in 1502 when Columbus arrived on his 4th trip to America, the city is rich with a history that includes being one of the richest ports in the world at one time with buccaneers battling for the city’s wealth. The city of slightly more than 3,500 residents includes descendants of descendants of the Spanish, Native Indians and Africans. It is the birthplace of the Congo culture; famous for the Christo Negro statue, and Spanish fort remains. The city also contains a national park & was declared a Historical Monument by UNESCO. These days Portobelo is a relatively poor community, the average local monthly wages below national minimum wage.

Manos de Portobelo is a craft shop run by local artisans in Portobelo, with funding provided by PORDES. The crafts sold are made primarily by women who live in the surrounding communities of Jose del Mar, Portobelo Centro, Nuevo Tonosi, and Rio Piedra, and a new crop of artisans is in training in nearby Cacique. Although the artisans take pride in their work, the craft store was struggling. The women making the crafts did not have the business background to understand how to develop their product mix and how to effectively market and sell. For example, local tour guides would take tourists to sites near the shop, but not stop in. The artisans had turned to other work to supplement their income, leaving little time for the development of their craft.

The Project

The WIVP team initially dug in on the issues Manos de Portobelo was facing from Philadelphia months before heading to Panama. The team worked closely with a local Peace Corps volunteers to understand the dynamics of the craft shop, the community the artisans were working in, and other artisan groups in Panama. In addition to talking to local sources, the team researched independently the local history and culture.

The team identified several key goals to focus the project and have the most impact on Manos de Portobelo in a short period of time. They included:

• Increase sales

• Improve the quality and diversity of the product mix

• Identify new distribution channels and improve marketing materials

• Investigate establishing strategic alliances with local tour operators

• Improve the administration of the store

• Create marketing plan and implementation timeline for PRODES

To meet these goals, the WIVP team developed a comprehensive approach to gathering data and turning it into concrete recommendations for the artisans. Key elements of the plan involved:

• Meeting with the artisans to identify their skills, areas for improvement, level of engagement, and potential

• Research on practices of successful art fairs in Panama and customer preferences

• Extensive interviews with local authorities and inhabitants to understand the state of tourism in the town, the perception of the craft store within it and areas for improvement/constraints. The team spoke to people with perspectives ranging from the local tourism office to the Peace Corps to small business owners and artisans

• Attending a two-day ecotourism seminar in Portobelo to understand how the town aims to attract tourists to the area

• Synthesizing all the quantitative and qualitative data collected and developing a marketing plan, implementation materials and developed rebranding ideas for Portobelo to use in attracting appropriate tourists to the area

The Results

The WIVP team developed a strong set of recommendations for improvement to the artisan shop that were well received by the client. Inola, Mapp, Executive Director of PRODES noted that the WIVP work was “a great job” and “more than what was expected”.

The on-the-ground team left the artisans with some tools that they could use to help manage their business, not simply a set of recommendations. Specifically, the team developed a growth plan and financial metrics to project and track the progress of the shop. The team also recommended strategies for developing the product mix and focusing on the shop’s most profitable customers. Leveraging a team members technical background, the WIVP group also left a database that could be easily used by the artisans to track and plan their progress. Along with these specific tools, the WIVP team also led a product seminar with the artisans to provide hands-on suggestions on product mix.

About PRODES

Proyecto de Desarollo Turistico del Municipio de Portobelo is a Non-Government Organization (NGO) promoting tourism and the corresponding economic benefits for the local communities. They are specifically working on cultural promotion, a craft market, training groups to work as tourist guides, a library, establishing a basic school was in the community and organizing microcredit initiatives.

For more information on PRODES, or to discuss ways to support their activities directly, please contact: