Tourism to Colombia, Latin America’s growing travel hotspot, is breaking record after record as the country experiences an influx of international travelers. This year, major airline carriers such as Avianca and JetBlue Airways will increase their direct flights between the U.S. and Colombia to meet the growing demand. Also, Proexport Colombia, the country’s government agency in charge of tourism promotion, has developed several free mobile apps for travelers to assist with everything from sightseeing to conference planning. With these developments, travel to and around Colombia is becoming easier and more accessible than ever.
Starting July 17, airline carrier Avianca began offering a new flight between New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport and Cartagena. The new flight operates on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays with a continuing flight to the city of Pereira in Colombia’s Coffee Triangle. Later this year on Oct. 29, JetBlue Airways will start its nonstop service from Fort Lauderdale to Cartagena four times a week.
To further enhance and support the experience of international visitors, Proexport has created four new apps that will serve as a resource for travelers. For tourism attractions, the Colombia Travel app highlights the diverse sightseeing activities that the country has to offer so that travelers can experience the best of “Colombia is Magical Realism”—the country’s tourism campaign. The app uses geolocation services to direct tourists to more than 350 points of interest. Since its launch in February 2013, the app has received an overwhelmingly positive response with 36,217 downloads.
Next up, the Welcome to Colombia app was created by a subsidiary of Assist-Card with the help of the Colombian Association of Tourism and Travel Agencies and Proexport. Welcome to Colombia provides a 24/7 chat service for travelers that lets users speak with a service agent to provide assistance regarding any tourism-related inquiries. Available in several languages including English, Spanish and Portuguese, this app provides tools such as a currency converter, dictionary and weather information.
For scuba enthusiasts, Proexport is also offering an app to help tourists explore the marine diversity off of the country’s Caribbean and Pacific coasts. This mobile app, Colombia Diving, allows divers to search for dive areas based on currents, region and more. Colombia Diving can also assist tourists with contacting professional dive operators.
Lastly, Proexport Colombia has developed the Meetings Colombia app to provide assistance for meeting organizers. Meetings Colombia is an excellent reference for organizers trying to find the right city, hotel or convention center to host conferences.
For more information on the latest flights and tools available for travelers, visit colombia.travel/en.
