:quality(85)//cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/7I2JCQQUHJFGVHCRS3WUFUU43U.jpg "Tourism in Colombia increased by 63.5% in January 2023 compared to the same month in 2022")
In January 2023, Colombia received 454,727 visitors foreignthis number translates into a growth of 63.5% compared to the same month of 2022, according to information provided by the Office of Economic Studies of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism.
The figure is made up of 319,299 non-resident foreigners, 63,626 Colombians abroad who visited the country and 71,802 cruise passengers who docked in Colombian ports, data confirmed by Colombian migration and the various Port Companies.
January 2023 became the month with the second highest number of foreign visitors to the country, followed by December 2022, when the entry of 349,181 international tourists was recorded.
“We want to continue consolidating ourselves as a destination for peace, with social, environmental and economic justice. For this reason, from the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, we also invite Colombians to visit our territories, to appropriate their natural, cultural, historical and gastronomic beauty,” assured the Vice Minister of Tourism. , Arthur Bravo.
He Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism He also reported that 4,606,915 passengers to Colombia traveled by air in 2022, a figure that showed a recovery from pre-pandemic data, marking a 16.6% increase from 2019. .
One of the tourist attractions highlighted are the National natural parksplaces that saw a 33.9% increase in December 2022 and January 2023, and their occupancy rate was 55.65%, which stands out as one of the best of the last five years.
“With the implementation of the Tourism Policy: Harmony with Life, we hope that foreign exchange earnings and the added value of tourism services will continue to increase,” said Trade Portfolio Manager Germán Umaña Mendoza.
In 2022, the added value of hospitality services contributed almost 40.35 trillion pesos to the national economy, which translated into an increase of 16.4% compared to 2021. This involved an increase in foreign exchange income from tourist activitieswhich would have increased by 8.6%.
One of the proposals of the national government is to recover and encourage internal tourism, since it has been calculated that around 2.4 million Colombians have developed tourist activities in 2022.
For the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arturo Bravo, this number reflects an important growth potential, for which he invited all Colombians to visit different attractions of the country within the framework of the March 20 celebration and the recreation of the Holy Week.
“We want Colombians to take advantage of the immense opportunities of the national territory and visit their destinations to enjoy the natural, cultural, historical and gastronomic beauty. Being part of the change also means betting on tourism in the different regions of the country,” said the Deputy Minister.
Early in the afternoon of March 7, the Minister german umana He appeared before the plenary of the Congress of the Republic, where he pleaded for the most relevant points of his portfolio, included in the National Development Plan.
In this space, the minister said: “Tourism policy, as President Gustavo Petro says, is to offer beauty, culture, water, light, tourist routes; in general, everything that has to do with the prioritization of our biodiversity and our offer of national integration” (sic).