ProColombia: Colombia stands out as expanding MICE destination

The South American country starred during ITBM World Virtual event in Barcelona and aroused the interest of entrepreneurs from 13 countries, including Spain, Turkey, Germany, France,  the United Kingdom and the United States.

MADRID, Dec. 17, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Forging ahead with already confirmed meetings and implementing biosecurity protocols Colombia continues to work and put its all into the meetings tourism industry. This focus was rewarded in great international interest for the country's offerings at IBTM World Virtual, the MICE tourism fair that took place in Barcelona (virtually, this time around) from 8 to 10 December.

Colombian participation resulted in 85 business meetings with entrepreneurs from countries such as Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, Greece, Germany, France, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Portugal, Russia, Ukraine and the United States.

The meeting tourism segment in Colombia has begun to make advances as part of the sector's reactivation strategy. The most recent of sign of this progress was seen in the the International Congress and Convention Association's announcement confirming Cartagena as the venue for its World Summit for 2021.

Among the actions that ProColombia has carried out during the pandemic is the launch of the campaign "Change the date, not the destination", a joint initiative with the National Bureau Network. The strategy seeks to keep in touch with organizers of major global events to encourage them to maintain Colombia as a preferred venue for meetings, including the World Congress of Neurosurgery, Devcon, and FIEXPO, as well as the ICCA World Congress.

On the other hand, in mid-September the Colombian Ministry of Health issued a biosecurity protocol for business fair activities, which apply for events of no more than 50 people. This, coupled with the ease afforded by using technological tools, has strengthened the trend for organizing blended events (with some on-site and some virtual participants). 

In addition, several venues have acquired the seal "Check in certificate, COVID-19 biosafe" from the National Government of Colombia. The main goal of this certification is to generate confidence, minimize the risks of contagion of the virus, and incentivize tourism in the country.

ProColombia has developed the Incentives Empowerment program, which is focused on training and adapting sectoral companies to offer experiences that will boost incentive travel to Colombia.

Another ProColombia initiative is the development of the Meeting Planner virtual platform (colombia.travel/meeting-planner/es), used as an online showcase for all the infrastructure Colombia has to offer the meetings industry.