ProColombia Touts Tourist Growth; New Niche Opportunities for Antioquia
Colombian government business development promotion agency ProColombia announced January 6 that business and pleasure-oriented tourism to Colombia continues to grow thanks in part to expanded non-stop international flight offerings to major cities including Medellin.
For all of 2015, “more than 2.3 million international travelers contributed US$2.4 billion to Colombia’s economy,” according to ProColombia.
The agency not only helps promote business-oriented conferences and congresses in Colombia, but also has started promoting specialty tourism in areas including horseback riding, fishing and bicycling.
These new areas “have an impact on attracting travelers to destinations including Vichada, Bogotá, Boyacá, Meta, Valle del Cauca, the ‘coffee cultural landscape,’ Choco and Antioquia,” according to ProColombia.
“Spain, United Kingdom, United States, Brazil, Argentina and Canada are among countries to attract potential travelers in these specialized niches and thus increase the income of foreign exchange from tourism.”
Meanwhile, international airlines added 11 new routes and 46 new flight frequencies to Colombia, boosting connectivity with Mexico, Netherlands, United States, Spain, Aruba, Costa Rica and Venezuela. Delta and VivaColombia are the latest to offer non-stop international flights between the United States and Medellin (see Medellin Herald 11/16/2015).
“Thanks to new routes and increased services from airlines including Aeromexico, Avior, KLM, American Airlines, Iberia, Insel Air, Avianza and Ravsa, the number of international travelers grew to cities including Medellin, Bogota, Cali, Barranquilla and San Andrés,” according to ProColombia.
In addition, new cruise-ship callings have boosted tourism to Colombia, including the inaugural arrival of the Carnival Triumph to Cartagena, the first arrival of the Divine (“the biggest cruise ship ever to arrive in Colombia”) and the first arrival of the World Residences at Sea ship which stopped at Utría Cove (Chocó) with 120 passengers from Singapore, according to ProColombia.
