From September 27 to 29, the Colombia Nature Travel Expo (Cntm) will be held in Rionegro, Antioquia, the country’s most important nature tourism event, where Colombian entrepreneurs will present different proposals to foreign buyers including bicycle, butterfly and whale tourism. Bird watching, health, diving, community tourism, trekking, among other experiences.
The city of Antioquia will become the center of this meeting thanks to its rich offer of nature and adventure tourism.
Seven Santander companies will participate, namely Barichara Travel, Columbia Trails, Hotel Terra Barichara, Magelia Columbia, Phoneix Travel Group, Santander al Extremmo and Universal de Negocios del Oriente. The nature show they will offer focuses on hiking, paragliding, and hiking among other experiences.
Sustainable tourism
“We are committed to sustainable, inclusive and nature-based tourism, which allows visitors to appreciate the abundant offer of our beautiful destinations and underscores why Colombia is a country of beauty,” stressed Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arturo Bravo.
Holding this meeting is expected to generate business expectations exceeding $10 million, which is more than the $8.4 million agreed upon at the previous year’s event held in Manizales.
Carmen Caballero, President of ProColombia, highlighted the importance of this event: “At Cntm we were able to show in one place the enormous nature and adventure that the country and its territories offer. In alignment with the National Government, we are carrying out this promotion in response to the call to care for and protect our resources, and this is what we want to do.” We show it to international business people, that Colombia is a destination in tune with life, committed to preserving the wealth of our regions and realizing that tourism is a way to achieve these sustainability standards.
The official also stressed that they aim for the event to be carbon neutral.
“This means that we will calculate the carbon footprint of the CNTM and take the necessary measures to provide the corresponding compensation,” he said.
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What’s happening in Antioquia?
For his part, Juan David Blanco, Minister of Tourism of Antioquia, noted that we are happy that our magical section of Antioquia is hosting the Colombia Nature Travel Fair 2023 (Cntm) in its eleventh edition.
This nature tourism business meeting is an invaluable opportunity to enhance Antioquia’s potential as a sustainable tourism destination and to strengthen business relationships in the nature tourism sector.
We welcome participants to this event with open arms and invite them to explore our natural wealth of abundant biodiversity, enjoy the warmth of our local communities and discover the wonders our lands have to offer.
Buyers and delegations
The event will bring together 60 international buyers from Germany, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Spain, the United States, the Netherlands, Honduras, Mexico, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. Brazil and the United States will be the countries with the largest representation with 10 and 12 participating companies respectively.
The Colombian delegation will consist of 70 tourism service providers from the departments of Amazonas, Antioquia, Bolivar, Boyaca, Caldas, Casanare, Choco, Córdoba, Cundinamarca, Huila, Laguajera, Magdalena, Meta, Nariño, Putumayo, Quindio, Risaralda, San Andres, Providencia, Santander, Tolima and Valle del Cauca.
In continuation of this event, on September 29, foreign entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to explore Rionegro and discover its potential.
Previous familiarization trips
Before the business conference, international businessmen will participate in eight familiarization trips, covering natural destinations in the country’s six tourist regions, and products related to diving, wellness, whale and bird watching, safaris, bicycle tourism and trekking.
These trips will allow foreign buyers to become familiar with the tourist offer of the natural destinations of San Andrés, the quiet region of Valle del Cauca, Santander, Casanare, Nariño, Bolivar, Bogotá, Cundinamarca, Tolima, Huila, Vichada and Goiña.
Additionally, during these flights, operators will implement sustainable practices, including eliminating single-use plastics, connecting with local suppliers and supporting community initiatives. Additionally, each trip will have a legacy to highlight such as coral restoration, restoration farming, beach clean-ups, donating sports equipment and supporting environmental conservation initiatives.
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Business between Colombian entrepreneurs and suppliers
Another event held under Cntm was held in a hybrid format. It was the Chain Wheel that took place on August 25, and Guaviari was the host.
This business platform aims to facilitate and encourage the integration of local suppliers and Colombian specialists in the field of tourism into the catalogs of national wholesalers. Thus, wholesalers can offer their international counterparts the richness of the country’s tourism offer.
“The real power was creating new connections and identifying opportunities to diversify tourism in different regions,” according to Laura Durana, CEO of Acotur, an organization that supports the Chain Wheel.
At the event held last August, 144 suppliers from 27 departments and 74 buyers from 15 departments met. These meetings generated trade expectations exceeding 1,763 million pesos.
It should be noted that 75% of these business prospects came from buyers from Cundinamarca, Antioquia and Bolivar.
