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In Britain, Panama is famous for two things: the canal and canoe man. Back in 2002, John Darwin faked his own death and fled to Panama City with his wife, who, following his “canoeing accident”, claimed £1m in insurance and pension pay outs. Had a newspaper not got hold of a picture of him looking tanned, happy and alive in 2007, the plan would have worked. If you’re from Hartlepool and you want to disappear, there can’t be many options better than Panama. Not only is it sunny and cheap, there’s also barely a Brit in sight.
But this is set to change as European companies look to take advantage of Panama’s burgeoning tourism industry. Although it has officially been independent since 1903, Panamanians are fond of saying they’re nationhood only truly commenced in 1999 when the Americans completely relinquished control of the Panama Canal. This was the first year the country had free and fair elections and since then its economy has gone from strength to strength. Fifteen years ago there were fewer than 1,500 hotel rooms in the whole of Panama. Now there are almost 20,000 with the Bristol, Trump, Hard Rock and many others all moving in in the last couple of years.