¿Qué está pasando con el turismo en Colombia?

WEBVTT

1
00:00:06.919 --> 00:00:11.199
I' m Roberto Pombo. Welcome
to my questions. An average rush program

2
00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:22.519
sponsored by CAFAM family compensation box.
Colombia has a wide variety of tourist destinations

3
00:00:22.679 --> 00:00:27.559
for its own and foreigners. The
figures show that they have improved over the

4
00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:32.439
past year, but still do not
reach pre- Pandemic figures. Tourism can

5
00:00:32.520 --> 00:00:38.840
replace the currencies generated by oil exploitation, what side effects massive tourism could have

6
00:00:38.920 --> 00:00:44.320
in the country. For this chapter
we spoke with FE Development President Luis Fernando

7
00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:48.880
Mejía Gonstala García and San Andrés Islas
Tourism Secretariat, with Councillor Juan Daniel Oviedo,

8
00:00:49.079 --> 00:00:53.479
with Sandra Viviana Giraldo, former Assistant
Secretary of Tourism of Medellín, with

9
00:00:53.560 --> 00:00:57.240
the Representative to the Chamber, Daniel
Carvarro and with the former Minister of Commerce,

10
00:00:57.479 --> 00:01:02.320
Industry and Tourism, María ca Usas
of the daily life. I am

11
00:01:02.439 --> 00:01:07.959
Roberto Pombo and this is chapter ninety- three of my questions. Welcome.

12
00:01:08.079 --> 00:01:14.000
If there is a sign that one
has reached a certain age it is that

13
00:01:14.040 --> 00:01:18.439
each time he begins to use more
sayings to encapsulate ideas, and one of

14
00:01:18.519 --> 00:01:23.159
the ones I use most lately is
this one that says neither so much that

15
00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:26.640
he burns the saint nor that he
does not light it of this phrase.

16
00:01:26.760 --> 00:01:30.760
There' s a more scientific version
the Swiss doctor said for Celsus. Everything

17
00:01:30.920 --> 00:01:37.519
is poison and nothing is poison,
only the dose to poison in the case

18
00:01:37.560 --> 00:01:42.239
of your appointment. Its literal version
is more applicable, especially in toxicology,

19
00:01:42.159 --> 00:01:48.480
and is that almost any substance can
be toxic if ingested in excess, even

20
00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:52.400
those that are elementary to life on
earth, such as water or oxygen.

21
00:01:53.079 --> 00:01:57.040
For example, everyone, from health
professionals, athletes, coaches, etcetera,

22
00:01:57.079 --> 00:02:01.879
I do not recommend, tend to
keep them hydrated and drink water. However,

23
00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:07.479
even drinking a lot of water can
be harmful. There is no exact

24
00:02:07.599 --> 00:02:12.879
measure. It depends on age,
weight, physical activity and even room temperature.

25
00:02:14.719 --> 00:02:20.439
But when we take excess water we
can experience what is known as hyperhydration

26
00:02:20.840 --> 00:02:27.919
or water poisoning that causes poisoning or
an alteration in brain function. But you

27
00:02:27.960 --> 00:02:30.960
do well to what I was going
to do was that, like everything said,

28
00:02:30.680 --> 00:02:35.599
its meaning extends beyond the literal and
specifically in times when polarization seems to

29
00:02:35.639 --> 00:02:40.800
lead all discussion to the extremes.
These phrases become more relevant to me than

30
00:02:40.879 --> 00:02:46.879
ever before, and I am referring
especially to the desire to make Colombia a

31
00:02:46.960 --> 00:02:50.879
massive tourist destination. Since his possession, President Petru has made clear his idea

32
00:02:51.080 --> 00:02:54.400
that tourism is the activity that replaces
mining and hydrocarbon exploitation as the main source

33
00:02:54.439 --> 00:03:05.039
of dollars. We want to replace
the currencies that enter Colombia with carbon and

34
00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:12.479
oil by tourism. Colombia has an
opportunity there, in the short term,

35
00:03:12.719 --> 00:03:17.400
in tourism. Tourism, as if
it were a chemical, has its doses

36
00:03:17.560 --> 00:03:23.560
to make it a valuable or intoxicating
activity in Colombia. For now, tourism

37
00:03:23.639 --> 00:03:28.759
figures are positive and show that it
is benefiting and that it has the potential

38
00:03:28.840 --> 00:03:34.319
to do so even more. According
to data from the Colombian Association of Travel

39
00:03:34.319 --> 00:03:38.360
Agencies and Anato Tourism last year,
tourism contributed two or three percent of the

40
00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:44.599
national aggregate value of gross domestic product, according to the World Economic Forum'

41
00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:51.240
s most recent competitiveness index in travel
and tourism. In three hundred and nineteen

42
00:03:51.319 --> 00:03:54.520
economies analyzed. In two thousand twenty- three, Colombia ranked fifty, which

43
00:03:54.560 --> 00:03:59.919
means that it rose six places compared
to the place it held in that same

44
00:04:00.039 --> 00:04:03.360
report in two thousand nineteen. In
the first quarter of this year, foreign

45
00:04:03.400 --> 00:04:10.879
currency inflows from tourism grew by 19
percent. Two hundred and thirty- six

46
00:04:10.919 --> 00:04:16.680
million dollars To finish the country'
s tourism revenues represented sixty percent of the

47
00:04:16.759 --> 00:04:21.480
total exports of services, which has
made national tourism have a good time,

48
00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:28.279
according to the competitiveness index in travel
and tourism of the World Cornico Forum that

49
00:04:28.319 --> 00:04:34.319
I already mentioned. Competitive prisoners and
natural resources and cultural resources are among the

50
00:04:34.519 --> 00:04:42.439
most favourable pillars of the country,
and positive figures continue, according to the

51
00:04:42.439 --> 00:04:46.920
Bank of the Republic. At the
close of two thousand twenty- three,

52
00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:50.720
the country had a record income of
nine billion dollars for air transport of passengers

53
00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:56.879
and travel. This means that it
grew twenty- two commas four percent compared

54
00:04:56.920 --> 00:05:00.639
to the previous year. Last year, the arrival of cruisers and tourists on

55
00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:06.639
these ships also grew significantly. In
total, three hundred and forty- five

56
00:05:06.720 --> 00:05:11.839
thousand, two hundred and eighty-
five visitors to the country arrived through this

57
00:05:11.839 --> 00:05:15.560
medium, a hundred and six percent
more compared to two thousand and twenty-

58
00:05:15.560 --> 00:05:20.000
two. In January of this year
alone, almost 80, 000 cross-

59
00:05:20.160 --> 00:05:24.040
borderers have arrived in the country,
a growth of eleven commas four percent.

60
00:05:25.360 --> 00:05:29.319
Gaído also to the country in this
sense that the Ministry of Trade, Industry

61
00:05:29.399 --> 00:05:33.480
and Tourism has published that Cartagena will
be the seat of the version one hundred

62
00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:35.879
twenty- two of the Executive Council
of Ono Tourism in October of this year.

63
00:05:38.199 --> 00:05:42.600
But, despite all these positive figures, this item still does not reach

64
00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:46.279
the contribution that had been recorded to
the pip before the pandemic when it was

65
00:05:46.360 --> 00:05:50.720
the two comma six percent the contribution
of oil to GDP, according to Dani

66
00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:56.120
it is the ten comma eight percent, that is about five times more than

67
00:05:56.160 --> 00:06:00.439
tourism. Andrés Camacho Murillo is a
research professor at the Faculty of Economics of

68
00:06:00.480 --> 00:06:05.439
the Universidad Externado and told Revista Cambio
that it would take a growth of twenty

69
00:06:05.600 --> 00:06:12.000
percent annually and about twenty years for
this activity to achieve what it contributes today

70
00:06:12.240 --> 00:06:17.079
ecopetrols the coffers of the country.
I do not need to be left with

71
00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:21.160
the doubt, so I sought the
President of Development, Luis Fernando Mejía,

72
00:06:21.519 --> 00:06:26.759
to deepen the matter. What it
takes for tourism to replace the contribution of

73
00:06:26.839 --> 00:06:31.879
oil to the PIP This told me
for tourism to replace oil as a source

74
00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:36.480
of foreign exchange generation. A long- term strategic plan is required, not

75
00:06:36.600 --> 00:06:42.399
a government policy, but a State
policy, with a strategic plan that can

76
00:06:42.920 --> 00:06:46.759
strengthen the sector in various dimensions,
such as the infrastructure dimension, where Colombia

77
00:06:46.759 --> 00:06:51.160
must further strengthen the offer of available
beds and, in addition, complement this

78
00:06:51.199 --> 00:07:00.040
offer with other complementary tourist services.
Culture, gastronomy, sport and also recreational

79
00:07:00.360 --> 00:07:06.639
parks can be part of this strategy. The human capital of the tourism sector

80
00:07:06.639 --> 00:07:12.720
must also be strengthened through bilingualism in
particular. It is essential that the people

81
00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:16.959
of the sector have the ability to
act in a decisive way in the Spanish

82
00:07:16.959 --> 00:07:20.399
language and also in English, which
was the universal language for any foreign tourist.

83
00:07:20.639 --> 00:07:25.600
The security component, especially in rural
areas, must be strengthened in order

84
00:07:25.720 --> 00:07:31.480
to develop the potential of sustainable tourism. Colombia has enormous capacities in its tourism

85
00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:36.959
sector to be developed. This then
requires a strategic plan with very concrete and

86
00:07:36.959 --> 00:07:43.199
timely goals to reach levels of tourists
such as those with countries in similar sizes,

87
00:07:43.319 --> 00:07:46.639
such as Peru, or even larger
countries like Colombia, such as Mexico,

88
00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:50.720
which is one of the most visited
countries by tourists worldwide. Colombia has

89
00:07:50.720 --> 00:07:56.720
these capacities, but it must develop
them through a strategic plan and this ratification

90
00:07:56.839 --> 00:08:01.639
requires a State policy. I asked
myself the same question to the Exminist of

91
00:08:01.639 --> 00:08:07.399
industry and tourism Maracaudia la cotil and
this told me Colombia definitely has everything for

92
00:08:07.439 --> 00:08:11.399
tourism to be and to have greater
preponderance in the country. For the long,

93
00:08:11.519 --> 00:08:16.439
we need four points. First,
determination, clearly and conclusively establish what,

94
00:08:18.279 --> 00:08:22.079
how, when and where tourism can
be developed in Colombia. The lack

95
00:08:22.120 --> 00:08:26.439
of clarity limits large investments and tourism
development bets are required by regional blocks through

96
00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:33.279
PPP to achieve it. Second,
security. The greatest challenge of tourism is

97
00:08:33.399 --> 00:08:39.159
both physical and legal security. The
perception of insecurity fuelled by press headlines and

98
00:08:39.240 --> 00:08:45.960
news about negative tourism experiences or incidents
of violence in tourist destinations discourages travellers.

99
00:08:46.919 --> 00:08:50.039
Addressing this problem is fundamental to strengthening
the country' s tourism. Third,

100
00:08:50.159 --> 00:08:56.080
sharing informality to ensure quality services and
fair competition, as well as improving tourism

101
00:08:56.159 --> 00:09:01.960
infrastructure to minimize environmental impact. To
be understood as a balance between social,

102
00:09:01.480 --> 00:09:07.360
economic and environmental aspects. And finally, give the importance that tourism deserves.

103
00:09:09.440 --> 00:09:13.120
Important is the creation of a dedicated
Ministry of Tourism that focuses exclusively on addressing

104
00:09:13.159 --> 00:09:18.080
the challenges and taking advantage of the
opportunities for the country. And if the

105
00:09:18.159 --> 00:09:22.679
figures for the tourism of the country
allow to be optimistic, it seems that

106
00:09:22.720 --> 00:09:28.120
the Archipelago of San Andrés and Providencia
is the good exception. Gentlemen, I

107
00:09:28.200 --> 00:09:33.159
' m going to make this video
for you to see a direct flight to

108
00:09:33.240 --> 00:09:39.360
San Andres and look at them the
amount said of that occupies look a little

109
00:09:39.399 --> 00:09:43.480
bit of people who go nothing more
here, not even fifty passengers. Here

110
00:09:43.480 --> 00:09:48.799
' s André. The audio you
just heard is from a video posted on

111
00:09:48.840 --> 00:09:52.799
social media of a man on a
flight from Bogotá, San Andrés, which

112
00:09:52.919 --> 00:09:58.200
is almost empty. The video was
published during the first Holiday Bridge in June,

113
00:09:58.440 --> 00:10:01.000
when it is usual for flights and
hotels to this destination to be full.

114
00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:07.559
But this problem has come since Easter. The Hotel and Tourist Association of

115
00:10:07.600 --> 00:10:13.240
Colombia COTELCO took stock of the arrival
of travelers on the island. In March

116
00:10:13.600 --> 00:10:16.200
it was less than thirty percent,
when in March of two thousand twenty-

117
00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:20.519
two it was almost seventy- one
percent. In fact, this association called

118
00:10:20.559 --> 00:10:26.559
it the worst week in the last
twenty years. According to Cambio magazine,

119
00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:31.279
Julio García, part of the Board
of Directors of Cotelco, chapter San Andrés

120
00:10:31.320 --> 00:10:35.960
and owner of the Puerto Fino hotel, said that San Andrés went from an

121
00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:41.600
average occupation of eighty percent all year
to having less thirty- five percent.

122
00:10:43.759 --> 00:10:48.120
Jennifer Jeps, president of the Chamber
of Commerce chapter San Andrés, pointed out

123
00:10:48.120 --> 00:10:52.639
to the magazine Portfolio some possible causes
of these crises that the archipelago lives.

124
00:10:52.159 --> 00:10:58.879
The first is the already mentioned low
air offer. The second is that there

125
00:10:58.919 --> 00:11:03.399
are other emerging destinations that became direct
competition, such as Hereje, Cafetero,

126
00:11:03.960 --> 00:11:07.799
Coveña, Santa Marta, Cartagena,
places that can be reached in other ways

127
00:11:07.840 --> 00:11:13.320
that is not air only and that
expands the tourist offer. The third reason

128
00:11:13.559 --> 00:11:16.039
is the price of tickets, and
it is that a ticket to go to

129
00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:20.720
that beautiful national destination costs the same
or more than going to an international destination

130
00:11:20.759 --> 00:11:26.879
like Arubo. This situation, on
an island that was recently hit by a

131
00:11:26.919 --> 00:11:31.720
hurricane and where 90 percent depend on
tourism, is a real alarm. How

132
00:11:31.759 --> 00:11:37.240
can you improve the number of tourists
to San Andrés. I asked Sara García,

133
00:11:37.759 --> 00:11:39.879
former Secretary of Tourism of San Andrés, and to this I answered well,

134
00:11:41.279 --> 00:11:46.000
because this is a job that has
to be very articulated between the public

135
00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:50.039
sector and the private sector, because
the hotel sector, of restaurants travel agencies

136
00:11:50.159 --> 00:11:56.679
has made a very important investment in
the island. In recent years there are

137
00:11:56.679 --> 00:12:01.440
new infrastructure of high level, of
excellent service. Then we have been working

138
00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:05.600
very hard from the hotel sector,
from the tourism business sector. But let

139
00:12:05.879 --> 00:12:13.519
' s also say the government has
to look at how that part that affects

140
00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:16.120
the arrival of tourists, which is
the rates, how it is approached from

141
00:12:16.200 --> 00:12:22.279
the national government, because they have
to see that for a couple of years,

142
00:12:22.440 --> 00:12:24.600
with the departure of low- cost
airlines, the arrival of tourists was

143
00:12:24.600 --> 00:12:31.240
affected. We went from having about
forty flights per day to the destination and

144
00:12:31.279 --> 00:12:33.480
currently to about nineteen, twenty flights
maximum. Then, on this side,

145
00:12:33.799 --> 00:12:41.759
the destination is greatly affected by the
decrease in flights. Currently the rates are

146
00:12:41.240 --> 00:12:45.919
very high, as people are interested
in going to the island. But when

147
00:12:45.919 --> 00:12:50.480
you look at the passages, the
tickets, because they are very high,

148
00:12:50.600 --> 00:12:54.279
are cheaper to go abroad. And
because the local government has to see how

149
00:12:54.320 --> 00:13:00.279
it also addresses the issue of tax
or income card that in the amount of

150
00:13:00.320 --> 00:13:03.279
being a family group, because it
always has quite a impact. Then how

151
00:13:05.039 --> 00:13:09.320
to either reduce your cost or set
up a strategy, which the Governor has

152
00:13:09.320 --> 00:13:13.360
mentioned, suddenly make a payment for
this card and which can be used on

153
00:13:13.440 --> 00:13:20.519
several occasions. But just for a
moment. Suppose Colombia suits its tourist destinations,

154
00:13:20.039 --> 00:13:24.600
that there are enough flights, infrastructure, education, roads, etc.

155
00:13:26.840 --> 00:13:31.840
Let us think that the country manages
to attract the number of tourists required to

156
00:13:31.919 --> 00:13:39.200
obtain the same income as oil exports
opened up an adverse side b. The

157
00:13:39.320 --> 00:13:43.679
effects of mass tourism have been visible
for several years in the world, especially

158
00:13:43.679 --> 00:13:50.080
in such popular destinations as Paris,
Venice or Barcelona. Negative impacts range from

159
00:13:50.120 --> 00:13:54.840
economic, social, to environmental problems. For example, every year the magazine

160
00:13:54.960 --> 00:14:01.960
Fodor Strauble publishes a list not in
which it includes destinations not to visit.

161
00:14:01.080 --> 00:14:05.879
This year' s version focuses on
three main areas of tourism impact. Excessive

162
00:14:05.960 --> 00:14:11.360
tourism, waste production and the quality
and adequacy of water, which not only

163
00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:15.519
harm the destinations themselves, but also
the local communities that depend on them.

164
00:14:18.159 --> 00:14:22.639
In the most recent edition it includes
cities like Venice, of which it highlights

165
00:14:22.679 --> 00:14:28.399
that it has been a city worried
about not being swallowed up by water and

166
00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:33.759
now agonized for drowning in tourists Athens, which lives a similar problem about tourism

167
00:14:33.879 --> 00:14:37.919
the Halon Bay in Vietnam, because
tourist and boat activities, along with growing

168
00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:46.360
fishing communities, are creating a problem
of water pollution. The Atacama Desert in

169
00:14:46.399 --> 00:14:50.320
Chile, with the problem of textile
garbage it presents, which is so great

170
00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:54.360
that satellites have detected it from space, also do not recommend going to tourism

171
00:14:54.399 --> 00:14:58.360
to the Ganges River, the most
important in India, because it is experiencing

172
00:14:58.480 --> 00:15:03.399
problems of flow, reduced, floating
pollution and the threat of its dolphins of

173
00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:09.600
ribo, problems that have been exacerbated
by a new industry of luxury cruises by

174
00:15:09.720 --> 00:15:13.200
the river and, among others,
Fuji, in Japan, a city that

175
00:15:13.480 --> 00:15:18.600
had to block the view of the
famous Mount Fuji because the about tourism and

176
00:15:18.600 --> 00:15:24.759
the number of people taking photos of
this mountain have caused road problems in the

177
00:15:24.879 --> 00:15:30.200
city and, as well as Fuji, many authorities of countries and tourist cities

178
00:15:30.519 --> 00:15:35.039
have had to start regulating tourism or
the same venecia that has taken measures such

179
00:15:35.159 --> 00:15:39.519
as charging an entrance fee of five
euros in high season and holiday ideas,

180
00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:45.120
establishing a maximum number of visitors per
day and restricting entry from this summer to

181
00:15:45.320 --> 00:15:48.480
guided groups of tourists of more than
twenty- five people and the use of

182
00:15:48.720 --> 00:15:56.279
speakers and speakers in public space.
But in Colombia we have also felt the

183
00:15:56.320 --> 00:15:58.679
impact of tourism in several cities and
perhaps one of the clearest NS s is

184
00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:08.919
that of Medellin. It was fun
the capital of Antioquia has for several years

185
00:16:10.039 --> 00:16:14.399
become a rather attractive destination between the
boom of the city as capital of the

186
00:16:14.440 --> 00:16:18.519
reggaeton, the climate, the kindness
of its people, the diverse cultural offer

187
00:16:18.639 --> 00:16:26.120
and, in addition to being headquarters
for virtual nomads, the reasons to visit

188
00:16:26.159 --> 00:16:30.840
the works. In two thousand twenty- two, according to data from the

189
00:16:30.960 --> 00:16:36.879
mayor' s office, he achieved
figures of historical tourists, received more than

190
00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:38.600
one million four hundred thousand visitors and
exceeded one million two hundred thousand that was

191
00:16:38.600 --> 00:16:42.720
projected. However, that boom has
caused several problems for the city, and

192
00:16:42.720 --> 00:16:47.759
one is gentrification, which is nothing
more than a phenomenon in which the urban

193
00:16:47.799 --> 00:16:51.399
sectors, generally popular, experience an
increase in the cost of living driven by

194
00:16:51.440 --> 00:16:57.399
the arrival of residents with more money. This has become a problem because many

195
00:16:57.679 --> 00:17:02.919
people who lived in neighborhoods like Laureles
or in the neighboring municipality of envigado have

196
00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:08.720
had to leave because the leases have
risen significantly. There are neighborhoods in which

197
00:17:08.759 --> 00:17:14.279
the increase has been of eighty-
one percent and have gone up by what

198
00:17:14.319 --> 00:17:18.359
is known as short- term or
short- distance rentals, that is,

199
00:17:18.599 --> 00:17:22.960
that apartment owners prefer to rent the
tourists for a shorter period and for more

200
00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:30.920
money than a local person for the
hostel tourism management school. Today it is

201
00:17:30.200 --> 00:17:36.279
known that tourism gentrification involves much more
than a simple displacement of residents and even

202
00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:41.559
in many cases, tourism and gentrification
participate in a vicious circle in which the

203
00:17:41.680 --> 00:17:48.240
success of one depends directly on the
effect of the other. Already cities such

204
00:17:48.359 --> 00:17:52.359
as Barcelona, Florence, Paris and
Amsterdam have regulated this type of rent through

205
00:17:52.400 --> 00:17:57.960
platforms such as the bean b The
representative of the House by Antioquia, Daniel

206
00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:03.000
Carvallo, has shown concern about this
issue. Last year he wrote a column

207
00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:07.160
in the newspaper El Colombiano in which
he invites the district to participate more in

208
00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:11.720
the regulation of the real estate business
so that tourism continues to arrive, but

209
00:18:11.799 --> 00:18:18.480
it does not become a decent housing
problem for the locals. I looked for

210
00:18:18.599 --> 00:18:22.880
Representative Carvaro and asked him what measures
should be taken to prevent gentrification in Medellín

211
00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:29.599
and other tourist cities in the country. This he told me about the phenomenon

212
00:18:29.599 --> 00:18:33.039
of gentrification. The most affected cities, such as Medellin, must make progress

213
00:18:33.079 --> 00:18:37.799
in at least three aspects. First
of all, there must be an update

214
00:18:38.079 --> 00:18:42.319
of all the regulations relating to short- term rents and, above all,

215
00:18:42.559 --> 00:18:48.039
the creation of specialized bodies to ensure
that these rules are complied with, not

216
00:18:48.119 --> 00:18:51.759
only with regard to leases themselves,
but also with all the possible effects that

217
00:18:51.839 --> 00:18:56.200
different cities are experiencing with the massive
arrival of tourists. I prefer, for

218
00:18:56.200 --> 00:19:02.480
example, phenomena such as excessive scrolling
or sexual exploitation of minors. In addition,

219
00:19:03.039 --> 00:19:07.359
cities like main have to urgently undertake
massive housing construction programmes, but this

220
00:19:07.599 --> 00:19:15.960
is the only way we have to
really control the accelerated price increase. Finally,

221
00:19:15.319 --> 00:19:21.279
cities need to be equipped with management
tools and public policies for tourism.

222
00:19:22.200 --> 00:19:25.319
Today we feel that tourism in cities
such as Melgin arrived in an overflowing,

223
00:19:25.839 --> 00:19:30.720
unplanned way, and we do not
have enough information, we do not have

224
00:19:30.759 --> 00:19:34.960
enough diagnosis and therefore we do not
have how to respond with appropriate public policies.

225
00:19:37.640 --> 00:19:41.319
Sadly, gentrification is not the only
problem that has arisen or at least,

226
00:19:41.519 --> 00:19:45.599
it has recorded with tourism. Sexual
exploitation of children and adolescents is one

227
00:19:45.640 --> 00:19:52.880
such problem. This became more notorious
a few months ago, when the horrible

228
00:19:52.079 --> 00:19:59.720
news of U S citizen Timut and
Aland Liminson, reported of sexual exploitation of

229
00:19:59.759 --> 00:20:03.839
minors in Medellín, came out.
Living Stone was caught in a room at

230
00:20:03.920 --> 00:20:07.960
the Brotan Hotel in the village sector
of Medellin and company of two minors aged

231
00:20:07.000 --> 00:20:12.440
twelve and thirteen. Despite this,
the American citizen was not arrested and left

232
00:20:12.519 --> 00:20:18.480
the country. It is currently wanted
by the authorities, but this news is

233
00:20:18.519 --> 00:20:23.279
only the most recent and visible chapter
of a much larger problem. There are

234
00:20:23.400 --> 00:20:27.920
no clear figures on this crime due
to a problem of under- reporting,

235
00:20:29.640 --> 00:20:33.279
but according to data provided by the
Mayor of Medellín, between January and November

236
00:20:33.359 --> 00:20:40.279
two thousand twenty- two hundred and
fifty- seven minors were treated after being

237
00:20:40.359 --> 00:20:44.039
victims of sexual abuse It is a
scandalous problem that is in everyone' s

238
00:20:44.039 --> 00:20:48.799
sight. It is enough to go
through public spaces like Lleras Park, to

239
00:20:48.839 --> 00:20:56.279
meet minors being exploited sadly. The
stories of mothers and fathers who sexually hand

240
00:20:56.319 --> 00:21:00.279
over their children to foreigners for dollars
abound and this is not the only city

241
00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:06.200
where this happens. Recently, the
country' s newspaper published a report on

242
00:21:06.200 --> 00:21:11.079
the sexual exploitation of impoverished children in
Cartagena, Colombia' s tourist capital,

243
00:21:11.880 --> 00:21:15.440
in which it tells how poverty has
led entire families to exploit their sons and

244
00:21:15.480 --> 00:21:21.240
daughters because it is the only possible
livelihood and foreign tourists can pay the best.

245
00:21:22.920 --> 00:21:29.240
How to combat child abuse effectively in
tourist cities. I asked Sandra Viviana

246
00:21:29.319 --> 00:21:33.440
Giraldo, former Undersecretary of Tourism of
Medellin, and this one answered me.

247
00:21:34.519 --> 00:21:40.599
We could begin by mentioning that the
crimes related to the sexual exploitation of our

248
00:21:40.599 --> 00:21:45.119
children and adolescents in the country have
increased in the last ten years. While

249
00:21:45.200 --> 00:21:48.680
social networks and the ease that technology
has brought for our communication bring great benefits,

250
00:21:49.279 --> 00:21:55.519
it has also brought immense challenges.
According to the Attorney General' s

251
00:21:55.519 --> 00:21:57.960
Office, between January and August of
the two thousand twenty- three, the

252
00:21:59.000 --> 00:22:00.960
country had more than 8, 000
cases of sexual crimes against minors. The

253
00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:06.839
vast majority on the part of foreigners
from countries like the United States, Panama

254
00:22:06.839 --> 00:22:11.400
and Mexico, the perpetrators, because
they are not tourists are criminals. They

255
00:22:11.440 --> 00:22:15.400
get the information of minors through social
networks and even Whatsapp in the form of

256
00:22:15.480 --> 00:22:18.720
salmada, receive photos and videos of
them, quote prices as if they were

257
00:22:18.759 --> 00:22:25.720
merchandise and organize meeting points and times
to fight this erect. We have to

258
00:22:25.720 --> 00:22:29.119
meet him. It works through networks, close friends and relatives of minors and

259
00:22:29.200 --> 00:22:33.240
even people in their close trusted circles, often with the satisfaction of their relatives

260
00:22:33.319 --> 00:22:41.920
and relatives. How to combat it
through different angles preventative, for example,

261
00:22:41.359 --> 00:22:45.680
by the hands of the police for
children, adolescents and the national government with

262
00:22:45.799 --> 00:22:52.599
policies with a territorial focus that contain
permanent controls, accommodations and hotels regulation of

263
00:22:52.640 --> 00:22:56.680
short- stay accommodation, articulated work
with the private sector, with hotels,

264
00:22:56.279 --> 00:23:00.720
hostels, restaurants and bars, campaigns, p pres mention, as Medellin is

265
00:23:00.759 --> 00:23:04.759
doing, and incentives to denounce,
and let us not forget the punitive angle,

266
00:23:04.960 --> 00:23:11.559
where the government should prioritize legislative transformations
so that the punishment is not only

267
00:23:11.680 --> 00:23:14.960
aimed at the people who are part
of the networks, but also at the

268
00:23:15.119 --> 00:23:21.440
parents and relatives, who are accomplices
of this crime. What can we do

269
00:23:21.480 --> 00:23:26.839
then to encourage tourism without falling into
these problems. There are international experiences,

270
00:23:26.799 --> 00:23:30.599
even in the country, that can
help us to have more revenue from tourism,

271
00:23:32.319 --> 00:23:36.519
avoiding the problems I mentioned earlier.
Costa Rica is perhaps the clearest and

272
00:23:36.559 --> 00:23:40.440
closest example in sustainable tourism in the
world. For example, hosting more than

273
00:23:40.480 --> 00:23:45.319
six or five percent of global biodiversity
has made it an attractive destination for nature

274
00:23:45.359 --> 00:23:52.720
lovers. It has twenty- six
percent of protected areas in fifty- four

275
00:23:52.839 --> 00:23:57.440
percent of its forest territory, which
promotes conservation. There are many similarities between

276
00:23:57.519 --> 00:24:02.880
the two countries, such as natural
disasters and ecotourism, and focusing tourism on

277
00:24:02.880 --> 00:24:07.039
these types of destinations could work for
the Colombian case. Ecuador is another country

278
00:24:07.079 --> 00:24:12.319
that has been able to take advantage
of its landscapes and natural regions Yunguilla is

279
00:24:12.400 --> 00:24:17.119
a community just over eighty kilometers from
Quito, on the slopes of the Andean

280
00:24:17.359 --> 00:24:19.880
cloud forest, which has become a
success case of community tourism. In that

281
00:24:19.920 --> 00:24:26.079
country. This region was recognized by
UNESCO as a biosphere reserve, a planet

282
00:24:26.079 --> 00:24:32.920
lung and a site of high biodiversity. And there are also several cases of

283
00:24:32.960 --> 00:24:37.920
sustainable community tourism in Colombia. This
month UN Tourism presented to the twenty-

284
00:24:37.680 --> 00:24:42.519
two finalist initiatives of the Innovation Challenge
in Community Tourism, in which they received

285
00:24:42.680 --> 00:24:48.839
more than five hundred and seventy applications
from entrepreneurs, tourism guides and non-

286
00:24:48.200 --> 00:24:52.680
profit organizations, community- based organizations, formal companies and, in fact,

287
00:24:53.039 --> 00:24:57.720
the tourism plan presented by the national
government last year increased by eighty- seven.

288
00:24:57.759 --> 00:25:03.359
Indeed, the budget envisages bringing five
or four million visitors and strengthening the

289
00:25:03.400 --> 00:25:07.920
inclusion and participation of communities and territories
in the country' s tourism development.

290
00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:15.599
All this sounds very good, but
how much can community tourism contribute to improving

291
00:25:15.640 --> 00:25:19.960
the figures for this item in the
country? I moved the question to the

292
00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:23.480
Bogotá councillor and former DANI director,
Juan Daniel Oviedo, and this was his

293
00:25:23.519 --> 00:25:30.200
answer. When it comes to addressing
the role of community tourism in accelerating the

294
00:25:30.240 --> 00:25:34.440
country' s tourism development, where
some elements are taken into account. First,

295
00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:38.759
the tourism sector weighed the two point
one percent of the domestic product cry

296
00:25:38.799 --> 00:25:44.680
of the Colombian economy in two thousand
twenty- three, unable to recover levels

297
00:25:44.759 --> 00:25:48.920
prior to the pandemic when it began
approximately two point six percent. On the

298
00:25:49.000 --> 00:25:55.440
other hand, the casto in tourism
in Colombia reached sixty- eight points,

299
00:25:55.480 --> 00:25:59.640
four trillion pesos in two thousand twenty- three, of which almost three quarters

300
00:25:59.720 --> 00:26:07.599
correspond to international travelers with a determining
component of air travel expenses. Thirdly,

301
00:26:07.039 --> 00:26:12.839
when we want to analyse the capacity
of tourism development in the regions, we

302
00:26:12.960 --> 00:26:18.200
must recognize a very important limitation,
which is access to safe drinking water in

303
00:26:18.240 --> 00:26:22.640
the rural area of the country.
Data from the Multidimensional Poverty Index show that

304
00:26:22.680 --> 00:26:27.200
one in three rural households in the
country does not have access to safe drinking

305
00:26:27.200 --> 00:26:32.400
water. And, therefore, the
possibility that this community tourism with a rural

306
00:26:32.559 --> 00:26:37.680
vocation is a champion of the country' s tourism development, which is also

307
00:26:37.799 --> 00:26:44.960
desired by the Government of President Gustavo
Petro, to replace the revenues from hydrocarbon

308
00:26:44.960 --> 00:26:52.200
exports is quite remote. This does
not mean that there is no possibility of

309
00:26:52.240 --> 00:26:56.759
strengthening community tourism, but we cannot
place all bets on this tourism model to

310
00:26:57.119 --> 00:27:03.160
ensure that Colombia, by tandale its
ability to generate income and jobs from the

311
00:27:03.400 --> 00:27:11.000
tourist offer of our country. Undoubtedly, Colombia and all its regions are quite

312
00:27:11.039 --> 00:27:15.720
attractive tourist destinations, not only for
foreigners, but for their own. Figures

313
00:27:15.799 --> 00:27:22.160
have shown that the trend is for
more and more people to visit beaches,

314
00:27:22.440 --> 00:27:26.519
mountains, rivers, museums and cities
in the country. And so, beyond

315
00:27:26.640 --> 00:27:30.400
the necessary investment in infrastructure for demand
to respond to supply, we also need

316
00:27:30.480 --> 00:27:37.559
rules that allow us to avoid future
problems that other cities in the region already

317
00:27:37.599 --> 00:27:41.839
have and that even today live their
own, such as sexual exploitation or gentrification.

318
00:27:45.240 --> 00:27:48.440
Security is the very first requirement for
the country to make the leap it

319
00:27:48.559 --> 00:27:53.559
requires in this area. So the
dose of tourism is in time to adjust

320
00:27:53.599 --> 00:27:57.599
so that the candle does not burn
the saint, but that it is not

321
00:27:57.680 --> 00:28:02.160
so little that it does not shine. I am Roberto Pombo and this was

322
00:28:02.200 --> 00:28:07.039
chapter ninety- three of my questions. See you in the next chapter from

323
00:28:07.079 --> 00:28:12.440
now on. This chapter of my
questions is available on all podcast platforms.

324
00:28:15.200 --> 00:28:19.880
This episode was made possible thanks to
Kafán, family compensation box, Roberto Pombo

325
00:28:19.960 --> 00:28:26.279
Directorate, General Production Juan Abel Gutiérrez. Editorial advisor Daniel San Pedro Espina,

326
00:28:26.759 --> 00:28:32.400
screenplays Juan Abel Gutiérrez and Johnny Rodríguez. Field production Marcela Salazar and Lucía Beltrán.

327
00:28:33.279 --> 00:28:34.440
Post- production of audio Carlos Bernal