What Happened
Panama welcomed 3,004,266 international visitors in 2025, an increase of 8.2% from 2024. Tourism also generated $6.583 billion in foreign currency, excluding international transport, a 9.7% year-over-year rise. Even so, the sector has not translated that growth into a proportional number of formal jobs or higher wages.
Labor data show that tourism, measured through hotels and restaurants, created 2,269 new formal jobs in 2024, with an average salary of $662.30 a month. Between October 2024 and September 2025, the sector added 3,849 formal jobs, with average pay of $663.80. That remained below the national average, and tourism accounted for only 6% of the 63,078 new formal private-sector jobs generated in 2025.
Tourism’s Role in the Labor Market
The sector currently employs 120,430 workers, and 68% are salaried employees in the private sector. The average worker has 10.9 years of schooling, while 78% of the labor force has 12 years of education or less. About 21% hold a university degree.
Despite the strong flow of visitors through Tocumen International Airport, cruise ports, and the Paso Canoas border crossing, tourism remains a labor market that produces modest wages compared with the broader economy. The sector’s average monthly salary is below the national mean by roughly $92.
Why the Numbers Matter
Tourism in Panama is larger than the hotels-and-restaurants category used in official labor counts. A satellite account published years earlier showed that the country’s tourism ecosystem includes a much wider chain of activities, from transport and commerce to microenterprises that serve visitors. In 2012, that broader chain supported 144,800 jobs, compared with a little more than 66,000 in hotels and restaurants alone.
That earlier snapshot also showed that tourism-related employment was spread heavily across small operators: 43% salaried workers and 57% self-employed. The pattern helps explain why tourism can grow in visitor numbers while still failing to generate many high-quality formal jobs.
Young Workers and Informality
The sector also carries major social weight. Four out of every five tourism workers are either informal or employed in companies with fewer than 10 workers. One in four is under 30, making tourism an important sector for young Panamanians entering the labor market.
That matters in a country where youth unemployment remains a serious challenge. Young people make up 23% of the workforce and half of the unemployed. Between October 2024 and September 2025, Panama created 44,586 new jobs, but 5,082 young workers lost their jobs and another 8,622 began looking for work without finding it.
Policy and Investment Pressure
The central argument is that Panama’s tourism industry will keep underperforming in job creation unless investment becomes more attractive and public policy sends a clearer signal of confidence. The sector depends heavily on domestic spending and liquidity in the economy, which makes it especially vulnerable when consumer demand slows.
That concern is especially relevant as debate continues around proposed measures affecting airport passengers, including a bill that would raise a transit service fee to $10 at Panamanian airports such as Tocumen. Supporters of tourism argue that the country should focus on expanding economic activity rather than increasing costs that could weaken competitiveness.
For Panama, the challenge is not only bringing in more visitors, but also turning tourism into a stronger engine for formal employment, better wages, and broader economic growth.