Colombia reaching out for business travelers

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0a11_1906
Avatar of Linda Hohnholz
Written by Linda Hohnholz

BOGOTA, Colombia – As new destinations in Latin America develop their appeal for both leisure and business travel, different nations are reaching out for new kinds of visitors.

BOGOTA, Colombia – As new destinations in Latin America develop their appeal for both leisure and business travel, different nations are reaching out for new kinds of visitors. Luis German Restrepo, executive director USA for Proexport Colombia (the government agency in charge of promoting trade, tourism and investment in the country) and Camilo Duque, the leisure tourism director, explained why Colombia is growing for a wider range of travelers.

The Appeal

With a growing middle class and decreased unemployment in cities, he continued, the countryโ€™s economy has stabilized, leading to increased development and safety. Duque noted that Colombia is #11 on the list of emerging markets worldwide, and that its economy is #3 for the South/Central America region.

For travelers, the Pacific Alliance free trade agreement makes it easy for travelers to move between neighboring countries without requiring an extra visa. (The current member states are Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru. Costa Rica began the process of joining the Alliance in February.) Some embassies of allied countries will even share offices with other members in order to facilitate travel throughout the region, making it easy to combine a business trip with a leisure excursion. โ€œWeโ€™re trying to promote different cultures and experiences,โ€ German said. โ€œWeโ€™re not competing. This is complementary.โ€

By the Numbers

Significantly, business and event-focused travel dominated Colombiaโ€™s inbound scene in 2013, with events attracting a 30 percent growth in visitors over 2012 and business travel in general seeing an increase of more than 50 percent.

In the past 10 years, German said, travel to Colombia has grown โ€œdramaticallyโ€: Close to 4 million tourists came to the country last year (a growth of well over 7 percent from 2012), and he expects that goal to be reached in 2014. In the last three years, international arrival of tourists has consistently been increasing.

South and North America are the main regions of origin for Colombia’s foreign travelers, contributing 70.9 percent of the total foreign arrivals. In 2013, the main cities visited by Americans in Colombia were Bogota (53.9 percent), Cartagena (12.5 percent), and Medellin (10.6 percent).

Infrastructure Improvements

The growing travel industry throughout the country has been assisted by improved infrastructure: Over the past 10 years, more than 15,000 new rooms have opened, German estimated, and close to 7,000 new rooms are slated to open this year. Major international hospitality companies–including Hilton, Marriott, Starwood, Radisson, InterContinental and Hyatt–are opening alongside local businesses and boutique hotels. (A government-sponsored 30-year tax exemption has attracted investors, German acknowledged.) TopHotelProjects reported that Hyatt has two hotels currently slated to open next year in the country, with the city of Cali set to get five new hotels with 777 rooms. Marriott, meanwhile, has three hotels set to open over the next four years in Medellรญn, Barranquilla and Bucaramanga.

Development has been strongest in cities like Bogota, Cartagena, Medellin and Barranquilla, but regional properties have also increased in popularity as visitors look beyond the major business hubs. Converted coffee estates have been adapted into boutique hotels, German said, and coffee trails (much like wine trails in other regions) are a popular group option.

Colombian hotel chain Movich Hotels & Resorts from the Avianca owner Germรกn Efromovich is currently has more than seven hotels in Bogotรก, Medellรญn, Cali, Cartagena and Pereira with a total number of 1,066 rooms and is planning further projects in Barranquilla and Bucaramanga. The report also suggested that hotel chains not currently represented in the country are also showing interest, including Viceroy Hotel Group, MGM Hospitality, Meliรก Hotels International and Four Seasons.

In terms of airlift, Colombia currently connects 216 flights per week between eight U.S. cities (Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Atlanta, Washington, Dallas, New York, and Houston) and seven Colombian cities. Most of these flights are fairly quick: JetBlueโ€™s service from New York is about five hours, German said.

Business Travel

Currently ranked 29 on ICCAโ€™s list of international business destinations, Colombia hosted 138 major events of 1,000 people or more in 2013. (ICCA also ranked Bogota at 42 among 300 cities, and sixth in Latin America.) As a hub for the region, German said that it is attracting more interest from international travelers.

Bogota will (for the second time) host 8,500 professional networkers to the 2014 International Networkers Team annual convention; this is the second time Colombia was chosen to host this event. Delegates from 65 different countries will visit the city on June 27 and 28 this year at the G12 Convention Center.

Beyond the convention centers in major cities, German said that less-traditional venues around the country also have plenty of appeal. A salt mine outside of Bogota has been turned into a cathedral with a food hall that can accommodate 300 people and an auditorium and convention center with a capacity for 800.

โ€œWe can reach out and connect people and follow the process through,โ€ Duque said of connecting businesses and business travelers.

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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