Panama has historically been a small player in the Latin American airline industry. The national economy did not generate a large amount of air traffic and because of the small size of the country there is almost no domestic market to develop on, unlike countries such as Mexico, Brazil and Colombia whose airline industry relies upon significant and fast growing domestic markets. With a traffic of 6.92 million passengers and 116,332 tons of air cargo handled in 2012 Tocumen ranked first airport in Central America, but only ranked the 20th largest Latin American airport. Still, airports such as Mexico City, Bogotá (a major hub), and Lima are respectively handling a traffic 2 to 4 times as much as Panama City, in large part because of their substantial local populations. A similar situation applies to air cargo where many Latin American airports have established connections with North American and European cities for cargo such as fresh flowers and produce for exports, but also an active and growing import markets for cargo such as electronics and medical equipment. Due to the great circle distance, direct connections with Asia are much less common.