At the end of this month, between September 27 and 29, the Colombia Nature Travel Mart, CNTM, the most important nature tourism event in the country, will be held in Rionegro, Antioquia, where Colombian entrepreneurs will present various proposals to foreign buyers including cycling tourism, butterfly watching, whale and bird watching, wellness, diving, community tourism and trekking, as well as other experiences.

The Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arturo Bravo, underlined that “in government we are committed to sustainable and inclusive natural tourism, which allows visitors to appreciate the offer of our beautiful destinations and emphasizes why Colombia is a beautiful country.” .

It is hoped that holding this meeting will generate business expectations exceeding 10 million dollars, on top of the 8.4 million dollars agreed upon at the previous year’s event which took place in Manizales.

The President of ProColombia, Carmen Caballero, highlighted the importance of this event: “at CNTM we managed to show in one place the extraordinary offer of nature and adventure that the country and its region have. In harmony with the National Government, we are doing this promotion in response to the call to care for and protect our resources, and that is what we want to show to international entrepreneurs, that Colombia is a destination in harmony with life that is committed to the conservation of natural resources. region and understand that tourism is a means to meet these sustainability parameters.”

The official also emphasized that they aim for the event to be carbon neutral. “This implies that we will carry out calculations of CNTM’s carbon footprint and take the necessary actions to compensate accordingly,” he said.

This 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 most representation with 10 and 12 participating companies respectively.

The Colombian delegation will consist of 70 tourist service exporters from the departments of Amazonas, Antioquia, Bolívar, Boyacá, Caldas, Casanare, Chocó, Córdoba, Cundinamarca, Huila, La Guajira, Magdalena, Meta, Nariño, Putumayo, Quindío, Risaralda, San Andrés and Providencia , Santander, Tolima and Valle del Cauca.

Business

Other events held within the CNTM framework were carried out in a hybrid format. It was Chaining Wheel which took place on August 25, with Guaviare as the host. This commercial platform aims to facilitate and encourage the incorporation of local and specialized suppliers in Colombia in the field of tourism in the national wholesale catalogue. In doing so, these wholesalers can demonstrate to their international colleagues the richness of the country’s tourism offer.

According to Laura Durana, Executive Director of Acotur, an organization that supports the chain: “the real power is the formation of new connections and the identification of opportunities for tourism diversification in different regions. The anticipation and support provided by Acotur, the Swiss Cooperation SIPPO Program and USAID, from the United States, visible since the previous virtual session allowed the entrepreneur to perfect his offer to buyers. The tour operator received a well-structured offer, full of new experiences and updated rates even for 2024. We closed the event with a feeling of satisfaction and confidence that this new offer will be well received by the international buyers of CNTM 2023.”

At the event last August, it met 144 suppliers from 27 departments and 74 buyers from 15 departments. These meetings resulted in business expectations exceeding 1,763 million pesos. It should be noted that 75% of these commercial leads come from buyers from Cundinamarca, Antioquia and Bolívar.