Colombia Tourism Is Poised for Transformation Under New President

Before the global health crisis, Colombia was all the rage as travelers and digital nomads flocked to Bogota, Medellin, and Cartagena, at a record 4.5 million visitors in 2019. Post pandemic, international tourism has steadily bounced back, reaching 77 percent of 2019 levels in the first quarter of 2022.

There’s a larger promise of transformation looming over Colombia, however — and it’s one that could position its tourism industry on the path to becoming a model of inclusivity, equity and sustainability in the region. On August 7, the country’s first left-wing president, Gustavo Petro, and its first Afro-Colombian vice president, Francia Marquez, will take office. The most diverse government yet to lead Colombia includes the first Afro-Colombian ambassador to the United States — engineer and environmental leader Luis Gilberto Murillo — and social leader Guneywya or Leonor Zalabata Torres, from the Indigenous Arhuaco community, as Colombia’s ambassador to the United Nations.

But the incoming government’s top priority is also unprecedented: to transition away from an extractive oil and gas industry, Colombia’s number one export, and to embrace the environment and conservation as a main economic motor. This means a focus on nature, culture and community-based tourism as part of the transition to a circular economy, structured through a lens of social justice, according to the government's plan. 

Expectations are running high on Colombia rising to meet this historic moment to begin turning the corner on the past, and take its tourism industry soaring with it into a low carbon, community-centered and equitable future.

“In all these years working in tourism, I have never seen a moment that has brought so many people that amount of hope," said Rodrigo Atuesta, CEO of Impulse Travel, a Colombian-based tour company that partners with marginalized communities to offer impactful experiences for international visitors.

Gilberto Salcedo, vice president of tourism at ProColombia, said that the new administration's plan shows a clear intention to strengthen the tourism industry. "There is an acknowledgement of tourism as an important source of generation of foreign exchange in the country," said Salcedo.

“For tourism, I honestly don't think much is going to change because Colombia has invested so much money in promoting Colombia as an exciting environmental tourist destination w