Panama City races to become world-class metropolis

Over the past 13 years, Panama City has been racing to become a world-class metropolis, and for travelers, the changes have been enormous.

In 1997 there were perhaps 1,400 hotel rooms in Panama City. Now there are more than 15,000 with another 4,582 rooms in the pipeline.

In the last two years alone, Trump, Starwood, Waldorf-Astoria, Westin and Hard Rock have opened hotels there. A new biodiversity museum designed by Frank Gehry is nearly complete. The country’s first modern dance festival unfolded last year, the same year Panama held its first international film festival.

Source: New York Times