For business or leisure, tourism is growing in the province of Santander

The Santander department is incorporated as one of the main national destinations for meetings, conferences and exhibitions. This is indicated by the numbers of tourism activity revealed by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in this region of the country.

According to this report, during the first half of the year, business tourism left 30% more income than vacation in this section.

To support this important line of the economy, the department’s management has prioritized communication projects that take advantage of its intermodal system and promote sustainable transportation.

“Among the tourism initiatives that are being implemented is the application of Chicamocha Canyon as a Geopark by UNESCO, which will have places with landscapes managed from a comprehensive perspective of protection, education and sustainable development,” explained Merry Luz Hernandez López, Santander’s Minister of Culture and Tourism.

In addition, he explained, with the birdwatching project, a protection strategy has been proposed for the 971 species sheltered by Santander and the ecosystem, as well as the development of ecotourism to strengthen the rural part, and for this reason, some roads naturism activities such as those from Yariguíes to San Vicente de Chucurí, El Carmen-Puerto Wilches, and the Special District of Barrancabermeja, among others.

With regard to tourism policy, the department’s management has made large investments amounting to 380 million dollars, in favor of all tourist lines, so that they have a road map for developing plans, procedures, programs and projects that meet the current needs of society.

With the “Los Alpes a los Andes” program, mountain tourism has been developed, for which more than 160 million dollars have been allocated. More than $420 million has been invested in promoting new international air routes, which have been used to promote direct flights of Spirit Airlines between Bucaramanga and Fort Lauderdale in the United States.

Nancy Yaneth Calderón, Managing Director of the Santander Al Extremo Travel Agency, indicated that among the new tourist options offered by this region of Colombia to visitors are Plan Gambeta, San José de Suaita, Uipa, Guadalupe and Velez.

There is also a tourist offer in Sabana de Torres, San Vicente de Chucurí, Topocoro Reservoir and Cueva de los Aviones, as novelties.

He stressed that there are new operators in the sector who have arrived, to enhance or expand the service of those already in place, among them: Huellas in San José de Suaita; Weekend Santander, Bucaraplan, and Santander al Extremo are located in Bucaramanga, among others.

He added that an important tourism project is currently being developed by coffee entrepreneurs and tour operators, to promote a plan called “Coffee: Sendero y Sombra”, which aims to connect coffee farms in Santander with this initiative.

Ecotourism offer

The province of Santander has an increased tourist offer in natural destinations, such as the province of Velez, according to Olga Lucia Barrera, Cotelco’s executive director in this region of the country. Its very unique and special geography, Barrera explained, offers real treasures hidden in the mountainous geography of this region: Hoyo del Aire in La Paz, the Tisquizoque Windows in Florián and the caves of El Peñón, to name a few. In addition, ecotourism destinations of great wealth, such as Gambeta, Soaita Guadalupe, Simacuta in the province of Comunera, Sharala and Mogotes in Juanentina, and the rosary of the inhabitants of Soto Norte, are increasingly being used as the gateway to the sanctuary of Santurban Paramo.