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With vallenato, traditional Colombian food, Club Colombia beer, Juan Valdez coffee, documentaries, and a photo and flower exhibition, the month of Colombia began at the National Geographic Store in Madrid.
Almost 200 distinguished guests from the tourism sector participated in the inauguration ceremony, which was presided over by the vice minister of Tourism, Oscar Rueda, the Colombian Ambassador in Spain, Orlando Sardi de Lima and the president of PROCOLOMBIA, María Claudia Lacouture.
The strategy, headed by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism, the Tourism Promotion Fund and PROCOLOMBIA, seeks to create awareness in the almost 27 thousand tourists that visit the store, and present all of the opportunities for tourism in the country, until next June 21.
" Colombia is still a country unknown to travelers, but our country has the ability to surprise everyone who visits it," said María Claudia Lacouture, president of Proexport. " Thanks to the diversity of its products such as gastronomy, culture, heritage or history, it makes one fall in love and never want to leave," she added.
Spain was chosen as the country to begin the promotion strategy because, " it is the number one European market for Colombia for arrivals," according to the vice minister of Tourism, Oscar Rueda. " In less than four years we have gone from 45,000 to almost 90,000 Spanish travelers."
The event was attended by public figures from the Spanish capital such as the Tourism Secretary of State, Isabel Borrego, and the Managing Director of the Barceló group, Gabriel Subías.
In addition to the presence of Juan Valdez, who gave out samples of Colombian coffee, the evening also had the participation of Spanish blogger Carlos Olmo, who connected from Cali and announced that he will tour Colombia over 12 days, during which he will provide details for Spanish travelers through the Twitter and Minube social networks.
The 200 people that participated in the inauguration of the month of Colombia sampled Colombian food as well as Club Colombia beer.
Some of the activities during the month of Colombia in Spain
The strategy will include various free activities to encourage Europeans to learn about Colombia. There will be talks presenting the local culture, for example, on the cultural coffee-growing landscape being declared a world heritage site by Unesco, the jungles of Choco and its biodiversity, and Cocuy National Park.
Also, by way of workshops, visitors will have the opportunity to learn how to build traditional instruments from the Atlantic coast, model clay pottery as made by some indigenous tribes, create woven textiles and other handicrafts.
The same promotion of Colombia as a world-class tourist destination will be duplicated at the National Geographic Store in London, during the 2012 Olympic Games, from July 17 to August 17.
See all of the developments of the month of Colombia at the National Geographic Store in Madrid here: http://bit.ly/JG1tQH
