Foreign exchange inflows for tourism to Colombia reached a 46% revival in 2021

Tourism is currently one of the sectors that is most leveraging economic recovery in the country. As the months of 2022 go by, more and more figures reaffirm this industry as one of the most important in the national territory.

According to a recent report by the Colombian Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies, “although the number of international tourists arriving in Colombia had been growing exponentially, the pandemic caused a contraction trend that has gradually been recovering.”

He also specified that for 2021, “the Banco de La República reported that USD $3,102 million earned as foreign exchange in tourism, which corresponded to a reactivation of 46%, compared to 2019, being the fourth quarter of last year, the period that stood out the most with the income of USD $1.137 million and a reactivation close to 60 per cent”. This means, that considering the 2.1 million non-resident visitors reported in 2021, their average spending would have been around USD $1,461

In line with the above, the association pointed out that it is important to continue research on trends in the industry to stimulate spending on tourists.

Similarly, he highlighted that in 2019 tourism accounted for 64 per cent of service exports, while in 2021, it only reached 41 per cent.

According to a recent IATA report, in January 2022, the total recovery of passenger air traffic in the world was 50%. In this way, worldwide, the flow of passengers on international flights reactivated by 38%, and domestic flights by 73%, compared to the same month in 2019.

Although data in the world show a steady recovery, in Colombia they are even more encouraging, since according to ANATO calculations, based on figures from Civil Aeronautics, more than 3.8 million passengers were mobilized on flights in January, of which 1.1 million on international flights and 2.7 million on domestic flights.

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