If your Instagram feed is anything like mine these days, it probably feels like everyone is traveling to Iceland. Sure, this volcanic island in the heart of the Atlantic brims with black sand beaches and soaring waterfalls studded with shards of ice in winter. But Iceland’s surging popularity is thanks to more than its natural beauty: it has been driven in large part by Icelandair’s innovative stopover program that promises travelers a few extra days of vacation as they fly between North America and Europe.
The rousing success of Iceland’s program hasn’t gone unnoticed. Now, the award-winning Copa Airlines is employing the same style of program, with success, in its own stopover program, with the hopes of spurring tourism in a lesser-visited Central American destination that is brimming with still-untapped travel potential: Panama.
Panama, Hub of the Americas
Perched at the meeting point of the two American continents, its famous canal lending it global-level importance, Panama has carved out a unique position for itself amidst its Central American neighbors. With a skyscraper-studded skyline that bares a striking resemblance to Miami, Panama City is considered one of the region’s most important financial centers.
Buoyed by big-name business growth and the presence of some of Latin America’s most important companies, Panama hasn’t needed to focus much on tourism. But that doesn’t mean the potential hasn’t been there.
After years of drawing business travelers from across the world, one of Panama’s greatest assets when it comes to developing its tourist potential comes from its unmatched air connectivity. Copa Airlines, Panama’s flag carrier established in 1947, serves an impressive 17 gateway cities in the United States, recently having expanded to San Diego. In total, the airline now reaches 86 different destinations in 32 countries across the Americas and the Caribbean. Panama City’s Tocumen International Airport is so well connected, it’s known as the Hub of the Americas.
“A better-connected country translates to opportunities for everyone, motivating [Copa Airlines] to expand routes and frequencies to generate more jobs, foster economic growth, and increase tourism,” expressed Pedro Heilbron, CEO of Copa Airlines, in a press release. Connectivity certainly isn’t a problem when it comes to putting Panama on the map with travelers, but with the Panama Stopover Program, Copa Airlines is betting it might be the solution.
From Stopover to Stay
Copa Airlines first launched its Panama Stopover Program in partnership with with the Panama Tourism Authority and PROMTUR Panamá in 2019, but it has seen a huge surge of growth in recent years.
“The program allows passengers transiting through Tocumen International Airport to spend up to seven days in Panama at no additional airfare cost, [providing] a unique opportunity to explore the country, all while continuing their travels across Latin America and the Caribbean,» said a Copa representative in a statement explaining the program’s logistics.
Though Copa Airlines has had a number of different promotional campaigns to bolster its Panama Stopover since rolling it out, the ethos has remained much the same: this is a chance for travelers to have a vacation within a vacation. Drawn by both the money-saving opportunity and sheer adventure of such a proposal, travelers have responded even better than expected.
In 2024, nearly 160,000 tourists took advantage of the program, almost 25% more than what was originally projected at the program’s rollout. Just in the first half of 2025, the program has served 95,000 passengers, exceeding the previous year’s record by 18%. For a country with a still-growing tourism industry, Panama Stopover travelers represented 8% of all foreign visitors last year, an astounding impact from a program that, on its face, feels relatively simple…
