Sustainable Business Exploration in Tourism: Educational Tour for Bilingual Tourism Students in Coclé, Herrera, and Los Santos

With the goal of strengthening comprehensive, applied, and sustainable training, students from the UMECIT Bilingual Tourism Bachelor's Program participated in an enriching educational tour and technical visit to the provinces of Coclé, Herrera, and Los Santos.

This training experience was focused on key areas such as protocol and event organization, customer service, mixology, sustainable tourism, local entrepreneurship and preservation of traditions, allowing the application of knowledge acquired in subjects such as Mixology, Tourism Business Administration II and Protocol and Event Organization.

Highlights visited:

Hotel Cubitá (Chitré, Herrera) – National Congress of Travel Agencies and analysis of hotel practices.
Pamel Agrotourism Farm (Villa de Los Santos) – Rural tourism, customer service, and events.
Marín Campos Cooperative (Aguadulce, Coclé) – Salt processing and community entrepreneurship.
Caña Island (Los Santos) – Turtle watching, community tourism, and tour guidance.
Corpus Christi Celebrations (La Villa de Los Santos and Parita) – Local Tradition and Living Culture.

Learning and objectives achieved:

Analysis of administrative and operational processes in hotels, agrotourism lodges, and adventure tourism.
Identification of good practices in sustainable tourism and their application in local businesses.
Evaluation of tourism ventures that strengthen the economy and culture of communities.
Observation and analysis of customer service quality in transportation, lodging, and tourism experiences, including the protocols applied.

The tour allowed students to experience tourism from a business, cultural, and environmental perspective, promoting professional skills that combine technology, ethics, and social responsibility. Thus, UMECIT reaffirms its commitment to quality education, contextualized and aligned with the challenges of modern tourism in Panama.