Tourism

An improved perception of security has boded well for Colombia’s tourism sector. Identified as a strategic growth area in the National Development Plan, the sector has grown consistently in the past few years, earning $21.2bn in 2012 and accounting for 5.3% of GDP, a figure expected to reach 5.4% in 2013, making the sector the third-most-important source of foreign currency behind oil and coal. Some 1.7m visitors entered Colombia in 2012, a 7% increase from the previous year and nearly double the global growth rate of 4%. Given these positive indicators, the government has ambitious plans to boost the annual number of visitors to 4m by the end of 2014, for which it set aside a budget of $373.8m. Ecotourism and the global meetings industry have displayed the most potential for growth.