International Hotel Chains Rapidly Expanding in Medellin, Antioquia
Investment promotion agency Agencia de Cooperacion e Inversion de Medellin y el Area Metropolitana (ACI) announced July 10 that besides the under-construction, 220-room Hilton luxury hotel on Las Palmas and the recently completed, US$50 million Marriott hotel in El Poblado in Medellin, Antioquia soon will host another 34 new hotel projects in 2019.
Citing statistics from Colombian hotel trade association Cotelco, ACI explained that “Medellín went from having 176 hotels with 7,370 rooms in 2016, to 197 hotels and 8,628 rooms in 2018. By 2019, 34 new projects will be undertaken in the territory of Antioquia.”
“We are the department [Antioquia] with the most investment — COP$674 billion [US$235 million] –in the construction of hotels in Colombia, directly generating more employment, as 56,640 workers in Medellín are employed by hotels,” added Johana Martínez, executive director of Cotelco’s Antioquia-Chocó chapter.
Among the new and under-construction hotels in Medellín: Decameron, Hilton, Travelers, Wyndham, Atton (US$30 million), Viaggio, La Quinta Inn, Marriott, Metro Hotel, City Express (US$42 million), Click Clack and Blue Doors, according to ACI.
Citing Colombian SITUR tourism-agency figures, ACI added that “the accelerated growth in hotels responds mainly to the demand for the sustained increase in the arrival of travelers to the city, with 735,570 visitors in 2017, of which 274,693 were foreigners, an increase of 4.8% over 2016.”
“Tourist growth and the great attraction for foreign investment offered by Medellín — part of a city-region strategy — are key elements for the September 24-25, 2018, realization of SAHIC [South American Hotel and Tourism Investment conference] here, one of the most important international events in the sector,” the agency added.
Besides business and convention tourism growth here, eco-tourism is also growing in Antioquia, according to Federico Guerra Hoyos, Secretary of Productivity and Competitiveness for the departmental government of Antioquia.
Antioquia “is one of the places with the greatest number of bird species in the world. All this natural beauty is very close to villages with hotel infrastructure, which, added to the host talent of the residents, make our territory an unforgettable place and a unique sensation,” Guerra added.
