Inaugurated the 'Route of Cumbia and the Music of the Caribbean', the new initiative to get to know the Colombian Caribbean

This Friday, March 18, from the municipality of San Jacinto, in Bolívar, the Ministry of Commerce and the National Tourism Fund (Fontur) launched the 'Route of Cumbia and Caribbean Musics', a cultural tourism project with which the national government seeks to boost tourism activity in the more than 1,300 kilometers of the Caribbean through the promotion of the tangible and intangible heritage of that region.

According to the Comercio portfolio, this new tourist route in the country will be made up of 23 municipalities in the departments of Atlántico, Bolivar, Cesar, Córdoba, La Guajira, Magdalena and Sucre.

For her part, the Minister of Commerce explained that the route, which will seek to “specialize the offer and promote other destinations in the country”, will focus on promoting cultural tourism in the Caribbean region through the promotion of its fairs and festivals, gastronomy, handicrafts, lutery, ancestral knowledge, among others.

In addition, according to Lombana, through the 'Route of Cumbia and Caribbean Musics', both Colombians and foreign tourists will be able to get to know and enjoy the musical heritage of the region that is home to genres such as vallenato, bullerengue, chandé and mapalé.

According to the official, this initiative will also strengthen tourism competitiveness in municipalities such as Soledad, Puerto Colombia, Mahates (San Basilio de Palenque), María La Baja, San Jacinto, San Juan Nepomuceno, El Carmen, Mompox, San Pelayo, Puerto Escondido, Lorica, Riohacha, Santa Marta, El Banco, Cienaga, Aracataca, Sincelejo, Sheep, Galeras, Barraquilla, Valledupar, Monteria and Cartagena.

“Through this cultural tourism project we hope to continue contributing to the safe economic recovery of the Caribbean, joining efforts with local governments to integrate the value chains that are part of the region's tourism activity, strengthening the tourism infrastructure of their municipalities and implementing programs that allow the integral development of the communities that benefit from this sector”, concluded Minister Lombana.

The Ministry of Commerce has also announced in recent days that, in order to improve the connectivity of some tourist areas of the country, in cooperation with four national airlines, seven new air routes will begin operating in the national territory.

According to those reported by the portfolio, the seven routes will allow the direct connection of the Eastern Plains with the Coffee Axis, the Pacific with the beaches of Córdoba or La Guajira, among others.

The seven routes, which will be fully operational no later than June 30 of this year, are:

- Avianca

1. Bucaramanga – Cali.

2. Cali — Riohacha.

- Satena

3. Bogota — Tolu.

4. Medellin - La Macarena.

- Easyfly

5. Barranquilla — Valledupar.

6. Pereira — Villavicencio.

- Viva Air

7. Cali — Monteria.

The Ministry of Commerce also reported that, before March 31, they will open a new call to select three other air routes and thus complete 10 new routes, with which they hope to connect more than 30,000 tourists to these areas of the country during 2022.

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