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Colombia: Colombia Tourism Profile

2015/03/21

Colombia and its “magic realism”

In 2013, the campaign run by Proexport to attract foreign visitors to Colombia changed from Colombia, el riesgo es que te quieras quedar, which referred to the improvements in security, which was one of the major factors that prostrated tourism industry for a lot of years, to Colombia, Realismo Mágico. This new campaign promotes the richness of landscapes and variety of incomparable experiences that visitors can enjoy in the country, by promoting different types of tourism such as nature, adventure, culture, sun and sand, cruises and business and conventions, instead of certain cities or specific destinations.

Low cost carriers are expanding

Air transportation industry in Colombia is seeing strong increase of low cost carriers, both from domestic companies like Viva Colombia and Easy Fly that cover mainly national destinations, and foreign airlines like Spirit, JetBlue and additional recently the Mexican Interjet. These companies offering lower prices contributed to intensifying competition in tariffs, even with scheduled carriers, which are revising their strategies due to difficulty in maintaining market share and were significant drivers for domestic and outbound tourism.

Rising request for luxury

Hotels continued to see rapid increase in Colombia in 2013 and one of the majority dynamic segments was luxury, because of rising request from both business and leisure travellers, not limited to major cities. Operators are as well developing attractive infrastructure for MICE tourism in intermediate cities like Villavicencio, where Hoteles Estelar is planning to open the Estelar Villavicencio Hotel y Centro de Convenciones in 2014. Hotel expansion in infrastructure will continue seeing strong expansion during the estimate period, as the tax exemptions of Ley 788/2002 will end in 2017.

Online sales continue growing

Internet transactions for travel retail continued to grow and gain share in total travel sales. Airlines and accommodation were the majority dynamic as they have additional developed transactional websites. Travel agencies, which continued to have low penetration of online sales due to fragmentation with a lot of small and medium players, as well saw rapid expansion of pure online agencies such as Despegar.com or Atrapalo.com, inclunding the reinforcement of internet strategies of traditional agencies like Aviatur. Colombia’s position in online sales for travel and tourism remains nascent as despite the increasing internet connectivity, most Colombians continue to use the internet to search for data about destinations, offers, promotions and reviews, but they make the purchase offline. The next of online sales in travel and tourism is bright and the rapid development of tools like social networks and increasing confidence of Colombians in online transactions will have a positive impact.

Travel and tourism industry will continue seeing positive growth

Colombian government will continue promoting the country very actively as an appealing destination through participation in different fairs and tourism events around the world in order to attract additional inbound tourists. Domestic and outbound tourism will continue seeing strong increase over the estimate period, driven by a burgeoning middle class, additional affordable airline tickets driven by expansion of low cost carriers and a revaluated exchange rate. Although this last factor will benefit outbound flows, it may have a negative impact on incoming tourism as the country will be additional expensive compared to other destinations.

Safety First

Safety continues to be the major area of focus by Uribe’s government, and tourism in Colombia continues to do increasingly well because of this. The caravanas turísticas project allows incoming and local tourists alike to enjoy the sights Colombia has to offer without being concerned about their security. The FARC is losing strength as it faces heavy opposition and loss of popularity, even from its members. While work still needs to be done in order to improve security and reduce drug trafficking in the country, the evolution that Colombia has completed so far in these areas is impressive.

Promotional Success

Major efforts by the Ministry of Tourism and other public and private associations have been successful in promoting the messages “Colombia is passion” and “Colombia, the only risk is wanting to remain ”. Improved security in the country has allowed these promotional strategies to succeed worldwide, changing the way Colombia is viewed from outside. A positive image of the country has encouraged tourism increase and allowed tourists to “Live Colombia, travel through her”. Bringing back safety into the country and telling the world about this have been successful strategies for Colombia to take.

Projected Arrivals Too Ambitious?

Colombia has indeed been increasingly successful in attracting tourists from around the globe. While increased security and extensive promotion have proven to be effective, the government has set itself very ambitious goals in terms of the number of tourists it wishes to attract by the year 2010. However, the economic situation does not seem to be favouring such ambitious projections and may result in a lower number than is being idealised.

Tourism Routes Offer Increased Options

Tourists can presently choose from over 41 different tourism routes to visit their favourite locations. A cultural route has recently been added, and several adventure and nature routes are as well in place to provide people with the adventure they are seeking. The Coffee Region continues to promise increase, while increased security has allowed new sites to become available for tourists as well. Visitors are therefore increasingly able to decide what they would like their Colombian experience to be.

Posadas Turísticas in Package Deals

The posadas turísticas programme has been successful in enabling tourists to reside with local families during their remain . Package deals have been created by travel agencies. Since these operators are only presently beginning to commercialise the posadas turísticas initiative, the Ministry of Tourism together with Bonhotel – Grupo Over y Savia – Amadeus has been in charge of its promotion. Such packages are available for five locations: Nuquí y Bahía Solano, in Chocó; Taganga, in Magdalena; Cabo de la Vela, in La Guajira; and in the islands of San Andrés and Providencia.

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