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Radamel Falcao Garcí a, the Colombian soccer star playing for Porto de Portugal and winner of the European League 2011, is also the star of a television commercial airing around the entire continent on Fox Sports, National Geographic and the History Channel, inviting everyone to visit Cartagena during the FIFA Under-20 World Cup, to be played in Colombia.
Commercials like this one, inviting visitors to the host cities of the Under-20 World Cup, are part of the tourism promotion strategies implemented by PROCOLOMBIA, supported by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism Promotion Fund, and have captured the attention of travelers from around the continent to come to Colombia to live this sports celebration.
For instance, this activity has generated the sale of four charter flights from Guatemala to the Coffee Triangle, the filming of a tourism special to be aired by Fox Sports at the end of the month and bolstering Cartagena as one of the country&rsquo s most important tourist destinations.
During the results report on the entity&rsquo s promotion activities, the Colombian Tourism Vice President for PROCOLOMBIA, Zully Salazar, announced that Cartagena is one of the eight host cities for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup event to be played in the country between July 19th and August 20th.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism Promotion Fund Director, Adriana Saavedra, and the Mayor of the city, Judith Pinedo, participated in the delivery of results event, which took place at the Cartagena de Indias Convention Center in Cartagena.
As part of the international promotion activities of the country as a tourism destination during the Under-20 World Cup, PROCOLOMBIA went on tour with 14 entrepreneurs and promotion entities from Cartagena, Barranquilla, Bogotá , Cali, Manizales and Medellin.
The tour covered Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panamá , Ecuador, Venezuela, Brasil and Argentina, with the participation of over 130 wholesalers, 450 travel agencies from those countries, and local communications media. A workshop was held in each country, showing presentations of Colombia as a tourist destination for travel agencies, tourism wholesalers and the local press, including a detailed description of the city, the region, and where the games will be played.
The results were immediate tourism promoters gave their opinions and identified sales opportunities around the World Cup event.
" Tourism moves large amounts of money around the world, and the fact that Colombia is the host country of a championship of this category is a very interesting thing for the country and for the visitors at the event&rdquo , said Victor Diaz from Destinos y Negocios (Destinations and Business), a Venezuelan wholesaler.
Roque Golino, Manager of the International Department of Toptour, Uruguay, said " This is a good time to support the Under-20 team, now that the World Cup is going to be held at a brother country. I think this is the time for visitors to see much more than just soccer and to see this destination, which is a really beautiful place.&rdquo
International Press Trips
Another promotion strategy promoted by PROCOLOMBIA was to bring several opinion leaders to show them each of the event&rsquo s host cities.
Until now, six international media companies have arrived in the country: TV Azteca (Mexico), Guatevisió n (Guatemala), Fox Sports (Argentina), Canal 10 (Uruguay), Ecuavisa (Ecuador) and Sport (France). After the visit, at least 20 different press reports have been created for television, digital and printed media. The journalists&rsquo reports included information about Medellí n, Bogotá , Cartagena, Cali, Barranquilla and the Coffee Triangle. Their inspiration was not only the Under-20 World Cup, but also the country as a tourist destination.
Có rdoba and Falcao, World Cup Ambassadors
The international promotion campaign also included two Colombian soccer stars of international fame: Oscar Có rdoba and Radamel Falcao Garcí a.
Có rdoba gave football-tennis demonstrations in Quito and Sao Paulo as an activity to encourage tourists from the two countries to visit Colombia.
" This is a great opportunity to show the world we can organize things well and with very high value. Every one of us has to put on our T-shirt and export our kindness towards our visitors, so they run the risk of wanting to stay&rdquo , said Cordoba, who starred in several newspaper interviews and television shows from the two countries.
On the other hand, Falcao will act as the promoter in Portugal and Europe in the World Cup, for the fans from those countries to get in the spirit and cross the Atlantic to see a country visited by more international tourists every day.
As part of the strategy, the two soccer players filmed television commercials about the country and each of the eight host cities to invite their viewers to enjoy the World Cup, live and in person.
The commercials emphasize on " the risk is wanting to stay&rdquo , and will be airing as of this weekend on Fox Sports, National Geographic and Universal Channel. They will be seen in Mexico, Central America, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Venezuela, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, the Caribbean Islands and Brazil.
Under-20 Passion
In order to contextualize the Latin American audience about the place where the Under-20 World Cup is going to be placed, Fox Sports International and PROCOLOMBIA joined efforts to film a series of shows in the host cities for tourists from the entire continent to see the main destinations. Each show will include a tour of the most important places in the city, always starting at the local stadium and the local authorities&rsquo testimonials. The series will air as of July 26th.
International press highlights the country as a tourist destination
As a result of the promotion activities, GNI Latin America, a leading company in strategic communications media and public sources analysis, conducted a study which highlighted that between January and June 14th, 2011 " the tone of the articles referring to the upcoming Under-20 World Cup in Colombia has varied from neutral to positive thanks to PROCOLOMBIA&rsquo s leadership in promoting the event around the world.&rdquo
According to the analysis, the percentage of favorable articles relative to the World Cup in Colombia was 59 percent, while the neutral articles reached 41 percent. PROCOLOMBIA, the Tourism Promotion Fund and the Cartagena Mayor&rsquo s Office presented the results of the activities to promote the city as one of the host cities of the Under-20 World Cup.
The GNI report indicated that the information on the Under-20 World Cup in Colombia has been published on the media in countries like Argentina, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Spain, Panama, United States, Venezuela, Brazil, France and China, among others.
