Colombia’s capital has seen a 20-fold surge in the number of mainland Chinese tourists, highlighting closer ties fuelled by expanding commercial relationships, Bogota’s tourism chief has said at a Hong Kong industry summit.
Speaking to the Post on the sidelines of the Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit in the city earlier this week, Bogota’s director of tourism, Andres Santamaria Garrido, said the capital had seen substantial growth in mainland visitor numbers and he was actively promoting it to Hong Kong travellers as an emerging South American destination.
“I think we got more than 20,000 [Chinese visitors] last year, but three to five years ago, [there were] no more than 1,000 [annually],” he said.
Garrido attributed the increase partly to the deepening commercial ties between Colombia and China.
“Because we now have a lot of projects with Chinese companies so I think [this] helps,” he explained, citing the involvement of Chinese firms in major infrastructure projects such as the Bogota metro.
Visa-free entry to Colombia already exists for visitors from Hong Kong, a factor Garrido considered advantageous.
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