News

Panama’s new marketing campaign targeting North America and Europe is attracting a wide audience, according to a representative of Google.

From March 15 to May 17 Panama racked up 74 million impressions and 17 million views for its promotions, Google’s representative for Central America and the Caribbean Alejandro Rico said during the recent National Convention of Tourism (Conatur.) Most of Panama’s impact came through YouTube ads, Rico said.

The Panama Tourism Authority launched a new campaign this spring, focused on videos created by U.S.-based ad agency VML. Each video highlights a different aspect of Panama culture, focusing on the interior and elements that are not on the typical tourist itinerary. The tagline for the spots is, “Not for Tourists.”

Users watched the bulk of the videos all the way to the end more than 40 percent of the time, Rico said, according to coverage by La Estrella. He also said the research shows a direct correlation between views of the videos and people using Google to search for information on Panama.