Panama eliminates tourist card for Cubans and Dominicans


News from Panama / Monday, March 22nd, 2021

Cubans queuing in front of the Panamanian embassy in Havana to obtain a tourist card, November 2018. Photo: Otmaro Rodríguez/OnCuba Archive.

From this moment on, all Cubans who want to travel to the Central American country must apply for the Tourism Visa at the Panamanian consulate located in the country of residence or origin, in accordance with Executive Decree No. 88, published in the Gaceta Oficial.

The Panamanian government established in October 2018 the so-called tourist card for self-employed Cuban citizens or artisans who did not have a stamped visa, which had a cost of 20 dollars and allowed them to enter and stay in the Central American country for up to 30 days for shopping tourism.

In March 2019, the Panamanian authorities ruled that Cubans who had said card should have their visa stamped, and in July of the same year the suspension of the issuance of the document was announced.

The businesspeople of the Colon Free Zone, the largest in the continent, resented the measure and asked their government to find alternatives for Cuban buyers, who represented 40% of the 57,121 tourists who arrived at the emporium between January and July 2018.
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