:quality(85)//cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/QZ4LS7RJEJDSVIN2T6JKQ6ZX7Q.png "Gustavo Petro invited the tourism industry to promote Colombia as “the land of beauty”")
Colombian President, Gustavo Petro Urrego, participated on Wednesday, February 22, in the installation of the XLII tourist showcase of the Colombian Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies (Anato). During her speech, she invited this industry to promote Colombia as the country of beauty throughout the world.
Gustavo Petro assured that very soon the currencies of oil and carbon should be replaced by those of tourism
The president indicated that tourism could generate 15,000 million dollars in foreign exchange in the coming years if the market is created
“If I show natural beauty, the tourist who comes will be a person who respects and wants to look at natural beauty,” the head of state said at the opening of the event, which ends on February 24. “If I sell cultural diversity, the tourist who comes must be because he wants culture,” said the president, stressing that it was his wish for the country.
“It is tourism that I want to bring to the country, by the millions,” he added.
For the progressive leader, the “one priority” should be the communication of this strength, as evidenced by biodiversity. “Few countries compete with the colombian beauty in terms of nature and culture,” Petro clarified, noting that the task of making this visible would be the responsibility of entities such as ProColombia and the national government.
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In this sense, the President raised the need to use and strengthen technological tools. “If we can use the means of global communications, including networks, effectively”, Colombia could market itself to the world as the country of beauty, “to be able to bring tourism from where we want to bring it and how we want to bring it”.
Indeed, the administration of Gustavo Petro hopes to relaunch tourism so that the country goes from $5,000 million revenue at 15,000. “We can certainly achieve the objective (…) that I proposed to the Minister of Commerce, Germán Umaña”, declared the Head of State and specified that it will be possible in six or seven years, when the transition energy in Colombia is ending.
The event organized by Anato is the largest in Colombia and one of the largest in Latin America. On this occasion, between February 22 and 24, the country will welcome the protagonists of the national and international tourist industry under the motto: “Colombia open to the world”.
Claudia López gave a positive assessment of the marches: “I thank all the citizens”
The mayor of Bogotá expressed her optimism about the development of the days of demonstrations in Colombia, and regarding the capital, she indicated that the 15,000 citizens who came out on the second day and the 2,000 on the first, had a democratic behavior that corresponds to the so-called “total peace”
In the act of inauguration participated, at national level: Paula CortesExecutive President of the Colombian Association of Anato; german umana, Minister of Trade, Industry and Tourism; And Carmen Caballero, president of ProColombia. The event as a whole will see the participation of exhibitors and businessmen from the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Aruba, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay , among other countries.
Two guests of honor at the event attended the installation of the XLII Tourist Showcase: David Collado, Minister of Tourism of the Dominican Republic (representative of the guest of honor country), and Everth Hawkins SjogreenGovernor of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina (of the national guest of honor destination).
“The San Andrés Islands are a very attractive destination, but we lost air connectivity, something key for the development of tourism”, commented Hawkins, recalling that the archipelago stands out not only for its places of sun and sand, but also for its cultural offer. “We have to recover the air routes that we have lost,” he added.
For his part, Minister Collado specified that Colombian tourism is very important for the economy of his country, since this sector contributes 15% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The representative pointed out that before the pandemic, Colombia was ranked 12 or 13 in the nations that send tourists to the Dominican Republic, then “It became the fourth transmitter.”