Cocle

Cocle Province is one of Panama’s central provinces, and is located on Panama’s southern coast, near the provinces of Panama, Colon, Veraguas and Herrera. It is about 1 ½ hours by car from Panama City. Cocle is primarily an agricultural area, but is fast developing into a popular tourist destination. Cocle provides produce to much of the country of Panama, and is most famous for the production of tomatoes and sugar. The capital of Cocle is Penonome, which is located on the Chiriqui river in central Cocle.

The Province of Cocle features many tourist attractions to entice all types of visitors. The potential for non-traditional tourism such as cultural and agro-tourism is also strong according Mr. Hermann Gnaegi, one of the founders of the Coclé Cluster. Mr. Gnaegi, who owns a cashew processing plant as well as shrimp and fish farms near the town of Natá, is organizing a circuit for tourists and students interested in tropical farming and food production. Located in the southwestern part of Coclé and only 20 km apart from each other, the towns of Natá and Aguadulce have a large number of companies dedicated to the production of salt, sugar, and shrimp, among other crops. The program, said the cluster's director, Jessica Lao de Velázquez, of Forestour Panama, will be implemented in a carefully-designed series of steps, the first of which is to hire a marketing consultant to develop the cluster's national and international promotion campaigns, followed by the placement of ads in international magazines and participation in foreign tourism fairs.

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