Colombia Tourism Is Poised for Transformation Under New President
Photo Credit: Carnival in Barranquilla, Colombia Unsplash / Dawin Rizzo
Skift Take
A new leadership representative of Colombia's diverse population for the first time in its history. An agenda centered on decarbonization, integrating host communities in decision making and sharing the tourism pie. And big priorities on social justice. Will Colombia become the model definition of a sustainable tourism industry?
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 th
