by Brian Major
Last updated: 12:25 PM ET, Thu September 28, 2023
Earlier this
month, Colombia’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism launched a promotional
campaign featuring the slogan “Colombia, the Country of Beauty,” in recognition
of the South American nation’s exceptional natural environment.
The tagline also
applies to Colombia’s biodiversity, indigenous cultures and distinctive gastronomy,
elements that have generated growing visitation from U.S. travelers.
Maintaining
a sustainable natural environment is also a linchpin of the campaign and of the
country’s tourism mandate.
The new campaign
highlights six diverse regions: the greater Colombian Caribbean, the Eastern
and Western Andes, the Massif region, the Colombian Amazon and the Pacific
coast.
TravelPulse spoke
recently with Gilberto Salcedo, vice president of ProColombia, the Ministry’s international
tourism agency, to learn more about the new campaign and the country’s post-pandemic
travel trends.
TP: How
does the campaign position Colombia’s natural environment?
GS: We're
talking about the beauty of the country, but I think this kind of beauty is not
the traditional kind. We want to show our people [and] at the same time we are
trying to push the sustainability and conservation of our tourism and the preservation
of our natural and cultural assets.
TP: How
broad is the campaign?
GS: We are
launching this international campaign and doing the same in the domestic [market],
with the same messages. It's the first time that Colombia has had coherence
between the domestic and international campaigns.
We’re [using]
social media, consumer advertising and every channel we can. We’re trying to
connect not only with the trends, but also with demand.
TP: Does
the campaign focus on specific areas of Colombia?
GS: We're
talking Colombia’s six touristic regions [which is] a way that you can find the
beauty of Colombia, through these different regions. It’s like visiting six
different countries. We are keeping the same country brand, but we are changing
the narrative.
TP: How do
the campaign themes align with what you’re finding in the marketplace?
GS: We’re
noticing that especially in North America, all of the searches from OTAs are
related [to] sustainability and sustainable experiences. In a recent brief [from]
Expedia related to sustainability, 90 percent of searches were related to [sustainable
experiences].
TP: How does
the campaign address Colombia’s approach to sustainable tourism experiences?
GS: What
we’re showing is we have been working on [sustainability] for years, this is
not just a trend, it’s part of the DNA of our tourism in Colombia. Everything
we are doing is oriented to sustainability, and if you visit Colombia, you can see
that we are walking the talk.
TP: What
are some of the experiences awaiting visitors?
GS: You can
go to a reserve and have the kind of bird-watching experience that focuses on
conservation and protection. If you travel to other parts of the country, it’s the same, and there are our
indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities, where we are totally focused on
conservation. We have a lot of diversity and biodiversity. It’s an amazing
country with a lot of things to see and do.
TP: How did
Colombia’s tourism industry emerge from the pandemic?
GS: I think
we can say our history is a resilient history. Part of the capabilities we have
developed in the last two decades helped us to stand up in the middle of a
crisis.
It allowed
us to think positively during the pandemic and in fact, we closed 2022
according to [travel research firm] Forward Keys, as the number 12 country in
terms of [tourism] recovery from the pandemic.
TP: How
are visitor arrivals proceeding this year?
GS: During
the half of this year, if you compare it with the same period in 2022, we are
growing at 34 percent in terms of visitor growth. I think our team has done a
very good job of understanding there is always opportunity in the middle of a
crisis.
TP: Where
do travelers to the country come from?
GS: The
United States is still the main market for Colombia. It has almost 25 percent
of [the country’s] market share, and there’s still a huge opportunity to grow our
visitors from the United States.
TP: How easy
is it to travel to the destination?
GS: Colombia
enjoys strong air connectivity with U.S. gateways and lies within a three- to
five-hour flight of cities including Miami, Orlando, New York and Atlanta.
We know the
U.S. market is responding well; it’s growing but we are trying to contact
[additional] travel agencies and tour operators to see how we can increase the
numbers and ensure the quality of visitors who come to Colombia.
TP: What
is the profile of the U.S. travelers visiting Colombia?
GS: There
are different features among United States visitors. We started with
backpackers decades ago, and right now Colombia is considered a family
destination.
We’re seeing
families and groups enjoying different experiences beyond Cartagena and beyond
Bogota. So it’s a complex profile. There’s a broad group of visitors from the
U.S. traveling to Colombia now.
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