Colombia
Here comes Colombia
CMW’S RAMY SALAMEH TALKS TO GILBERTO SALCEDO RIBERO, VICE-
PRESIDENT OF TOURISM FOR NATIONAL TOURISM BOARD, PROCOLOMBIA
atin American meetings
show Fiexpo is set to begin
in June, starting a
three-year tenancy in
Colombia. With the country’s overall
popularity as a tourism destination
growing year-on-year, I asked
ProColombia’s Vice-President of
Tourism, Gilberto Salcedo Ribero, about
the country’s MICE future and his
agency’s strategies for capitalising on
this potential.
ProColombia is
a government
agency in charge
of promoting
Colombian non-
traditional exports,
international
tourism and foreign
investment to
Colombia.
Website: www.
procolombia.
What makes Colombia an attractive
MICE destination?
Colombia is in an excellent moment with
the meetings industry. There are five
powerful reasons.
The first is competitive prices; a recent
study by ProColombia identified that the
costs involved with an event in Colombia,
on average, are 75% less than in the
United States.
The second reason is connectivity. We
have direct flights from the UK and six
other European destinations to
Colombia.
The third reason is top events
infrastructure. We have enough
convention centres, different destinations
and venues to manage any request. Our
study also showed that 70% of events
held in Colombia are hosted and
managed within the country’s hotel
infrastructure, and this includes
international chains such as Hilton, IHG
and more.
The fourth reason is high quality of
service. There is a strong emotional
connection and our MICE staff in
Colombia are well qualified.
The fifth links in part to the success of
the tourism industry in general and the
ability to find unique experiences in the
country. If you are attending a congress
co/en
Below: Sunset
over Cartagena,
Colombia
or incentive trip, you can extend your
time and find a lot to do. We have two
oceans - the Pacific and Caribbean – and
you can explore the Andes or the vast
tropical plains where you can even find
safaris.
There are also many (incentive)
products related to the coffee region and
landscapes, including visits to farms to
see and be part of the whole production
process.
Our MICE study also revealed that
23% of the economic impact of tourism
as a whole, comes from the MICE
industry, so it is huge.
We have also increased the number of
events held in Colombia by 34% since
2012. In 2018, a total 585,000
non-resident foreigners visited Colombia
to attend events.
Above: ProColombia’s Vice-President of
Tourism, Gilberto Salcedo Ribero
in Cartagena and we are going to hold
Fiexpo, the most important MICE fair in
Latin America, for 2020, 2021 and 2022.
This should encourage and promote a lot
of business related to the MICE industry.
We are also promoting other
destinations such as Santa Marta, San
Andrés and the coffee cultural landscape.
We try to promote not only the
destinations but also the people and the
talent we have.
If an event organiser asked what can
Colombia offer, what advice would
you give?
Competitive prices, a beautiful
destination, a very business-orientated
government. Also, the high quality of
services and experience of hosting
worldwide events. These include, the
One Young World Summit in 2017
(probably our biggest event in recent
times) and a World Urban Forum several
years ago. So we have plenty of
experience of hosting huge events.
What major conferences do you have
coming up in the next few years?
Currently, Bogota, Medellin, Cartagena,
Barranquilla and Cali are the main hubs
for the MICE industry. In March of 2020
we will have the Generally Assembly of
the Inter-American Development Bank
(IDB) in Barranquilla, in 2021 we are
going to host the ICCA World Congress
What are the main knowledge
clusters in Colombia?
We are very much focused on promoting
the Fourth Industrial Revolution
technologies and right now the Fourth
Industrial Revolution affiliate centre (as
announced at the World Economic
Forum in Davos in January 2019) which
is covering the whole of Latin America,
is in Medellin. We have a lot of industry
knowledge across many sectors.
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