Medellin: Colombian city with a great boost in tourism and connectivity

In this context, Travel2latam spoke with Juliana Cardona Quirós, Undersecretary of Tourism Promotion of Medellín. In addition, she had the opportunity to interview Maleja Ortiz Cruz, Marketing and Communications Manager of the Medellín Bureau.

-Juliana Cardona Quirós, Undersecretary of Tourism Promotion of Medellín:

What does the new Avianca flight that brings connectivity with Argentina, specifically with Buenos Aires, mean to you? 

For Medellín, it is a joy to be connected not only with Argentina through Avianca, but also with other destinations such as Aruba. This helps improve connectivity and makes people more aware of the tourist offer that Medellín has to offer the world. It is a help in terms of economic and social development, and an enrichment from cultural exchanges and everything that comes from having Argentines and people from other destinations visiting our city.

How have you worked on tourism to continue offering more and more connections to the city? 

From the mayor's office of Medellín we work hand in hand with the Convention Bureau and ProColombia to work with responsible tourism but at the same time being a competitive, safe and sustainable destination. We want people to know the benefits that Medellín has to offer. Today we are in fashion, we will reach 2024 with 19 direct routes, and today we have 22, that is a joy for us because we are increasingly connected to the world. These direct routes make it easier for people to choose Medellín as a destination because we know that they do not have to make stops.

What are the attributes that make Medellín a different destination from others in the country?

Our spring-like climate, where we don't have to suffer the change of seasons, we don't have harsh winters or very strong summers, makes it easier for us to have events throughout the year. The whole MICE tourism theme is important for us. We have integrated nature, you were today at a coffee farm just a few minutes from the heart of Medellín, that makes it possible for us to have agrotourism, the whole theme that helps us with health and sports tourism. We are betting a lot on Medellín being a tourist destination for sports because we know that people have a good idea of ​​coming here to prepare for cycling races or marathons, because we have mountains here. We also have flat parts and that helps to attract those people related to sports. 

As a representative of the mayor's office, how are you handling the safety of tourists? 

From the administration we work in a coordinated manner. The Secretariat of Tourism and Entertainment was created precisely so that each of the departments would know the importance and needs of both the businessmen and the tourists when they come to the city, so from there we work hand in hand with the Secretariat of Security, also with Migración Colombia, which are the authorities at the country level. In addition, we work with the Tourism Police, with the Ministry, in order to guarantee the safety of all those visitors who come to the city. 

What we ask for when we promote responsible and crime-free tourism is that they also take care of what we have in the city. We want everything that has to do with the environment, economic and social development, to go well for the communities. That is why we also promote community-based urban tourism, where we want people to know what life is like in our communities, in our territories, but at the same time we want the resources they bring, the money they come to spend, to stay in the same communities.  

This helps to generate good employment, a good economic spillover and makes us in the city know and value these tourists, so we work hand in hand with them. 

You already have a certificate with Aruba, is it a test or is it something that will remain permanent?  

We hope that it will be permanent. For us, it is very beneficial to have all the people who come with us from Aruba. Traditionally, it is a public that comes a lot for health tourism and medical procedures, and today we also want the city to be better known and its culture to be enjoyed, understanding that we are not sun and beach as they are in Aruba. Medellín should be known for its integrated nature, for the kindness of our people, which is in our DNA, where we want people to feel good in the city and to truly share the whole culture with us.

What promotion strategies are being used? 

We have target audiences in our strategies and some already prioritized segments that go hand in hand with, for example, direct flights, which are above all our priority markets, which we want them to know about our tourism products. As a flagship product we have Cultural Tourism, where we want all the people who come to the city to enjoy our gastronomy, the business and entertainment activities that Medellín has, but at the same time to know that we also have an important MICE development.

The city attracts important events both nationally and internationally, so that there is always a tourist dynamic with a more specialized public. We will do this with the help of the convention bureau, where we work together to understand these segments and markets. And we are also betting on this health tourism product and sports and wellness tourism product, we have called it this above all because we want people to always have something to do when they come to the city. We are giving priority to bleisure, because we want people who come for a congress, a specific meeting, to have an activity or a gastronomic experience.

Are there any programs or approaches on ecology and environmental protection with regard to mitigating the impact of tourism? 

Yes, we, along with the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, are really trying to measure and reduce the negative impacts that tourism sometimes has. For example, with the carbon issue, today the Events and Convention Center does not use single-use materials, which helps improve sustainability and also raises awareness in people, especially because they see that Medellín is very clean. So we hope that people will also make good use of solid waste, that they manage waste well and so on, so that there is real circulation. 

We are also promoting the circular economy a lot, where we want people to comment on the use of elements, and that is part of the balance in which one tries to promote tourism. There are campaigns so that people are aware when they arrive in the city, so that they leave it just as they found it. It is a matter of tourist culture, and of seeing how we really encourage them to be responsible and aware of what they are doing when they arrive in the city. 

What message would you give to encourage people to visit Medellín? 

Welcome everyone to Medellin, a district of science, technology and innovation. We want people from Argentina to join us and get to know our culture. We really have very similar tastes in sports, football, cycling, racing, and we want these cities, which were sisters many years ago, to truly strengthen this joint work and for them to visit our city and nourish us with the rich culture we have in Latin America. 

They recently launched a promotional video with the slogan “Country of Beauty”, which was key to Colombia being ranked among the most visited places in South America today…

Yes, we know that Medellín and especially all of Colombia is very rich in the diversity of beauties of a magnitude that we sometimes fail to recognize. So the invitation is for you to enjoy Colombia, which truly has all possible climates, the whole environmental and sustainable theme. We are a very rich, diverse country, where there are wonderful people who will take very good care of you, I think that has had a great influence and it is important to highlight that.

-Maleja Ortiz Cruz, Marketing and Communications Manager of the Medellín Bureau:

How is Medellín prepared to host international events? 

Medellin has all the skills, from infrastructure connectivity to the capacity of its entrepreneurs to carry out logistical events, which allows us to have large national and international events. The public administration is very strong in attracting these events, which means that there is an articulation of the actors in the tourism industry to achieve this objective. 

The joint work of the public-private sector makes the Bureau's management very strong in its process of tourism action and generation of new means of attracting tourists. We work a lot in digital media that permeate other types of audiences more strongly.

For example, within the vacation segment we have a cultural and international offer of very good practices in responsible tourism, as well as a very strong commitment to community tourism as a transformative value for society through the window of the total tourism industry. At this time, the city is increasingly generating more openness in these connections. We are the second connected city in the world after our capital, but Medellín has a very fast landing unlike the capital cities, which makes it very attractive for airlines looking to connect with our city. 

Why Aruba and Buenos Aires for a new connection? 

Because for Aruba we are a super strong complementary destination in terms of shopping, and we have an integrated proposal in health and entertainment. And for Argentina we have a supremely rich gastronomic offer. We are brothers in tango, we are even in the week of the Tango Fair, and also the entertainment theme is a Latin trend in which Argentina vibrates with that musical genre. 

Do you plan to expand this offer to other cities in Latin America?

The administration is strongly committed to expanding its offering in Brazil and Chile. It has even been making strong alliances with Aerolíneas.

How do you work with the mayor's office to incorporate new infrastructure for the future?

Together with the mayor's office, we are the generators of the alerts that are required to be able to generate these installed capacities. So, as we are constantly monitoring global trends, we are that articulated arm for the district, where we are at the forefront of the needs as a city to be able to continue with this business tourism promotion.

How do we work on sustainability in this world where tourism is increasingly looking to protect the environment? 

We have two very strong commitments: one is responsible tourism to attract tourists, and the other is the legacy left by the events captured at a national and international level from the Medellín Bureau, where we work extremely hard to ensure that all the elements captured leave a social and environmental legacy for the city.