Berlin, February 2019. In the 2019 edition of ITB, 24 Colombian business representatives will promote Colombia's wide range of leisure travel options. They will offer various tourism products with the support of ProColombia, an international tourism promotion agency.

Colombia's stand will cover about 300 square meters, in which the following cities and regions will be promoted: Bogotá, Medellín, Cartagena, Santa Marta, Meta, Chocó, the Coffee Belt, and the Amazon.

"ITB is a not-to-miss event for countries like Colombia that want to share their leisure travel offering with the world. Our music-focused campaign aims to create an emotional connection while displaying Colombia's richness and diversity," said ProColombia president Flavia Santoro Trujillo, referring to the international promotional campaign "Colombia: Feel The Rhythm."   

German nationals are the third-largest source of inbound tourism from Europe. In 2018, more than 70,000 Germans visited Colombia, representing an increase of 11.2% compared to 2017.
 
Colombia at ITB   

Colombian Minister of Trade, Industry, and Tourism José Manuel Restrepo, Deputy Minister of Tourism Juan Pablo Franky, and ProColombia's Vice President of Tourism, Julián Guerrero Orozco, will attend the fair on behalf of the Colombian government.   

In fact, during a public talk, Guerrero Orozco will present the white paper, "Music is the New Gastronomy," a document that explores the relationship between music and tourism and analyzes 17 case studies from various countries of the world. The document was created by ProColombia, in partnership with the World Tourism Organization (WTO) and Sound Diplomacy.   

The event will take place during the ITB Fair, at Colombia's stand, on Thursday, March 7th at 1:30 p.m. In addition to ProColombia's Vice President of Tourism, the following people of interest will participate: Katja Hermes, representing Sound Diplomacy; Ion Vilcu, director of UNWTO Affiliate Members Department; Marcelo Risi, the UNWTO communications director; and Colombian-German musician Larsito.   

Colombia's stand will also serve as a stage where the band AfroColombia BCN will perform, allowing fair participants to feel Colombia's rhythm. 

ITB Awards

Colombia was recently nominated in the LGBT Trend Destination category of the Spartacus Travel Awards, given by Spartacus Traveler, one of Germany's leading LGBT media outlets. Colombia is competing against Spain, Austria, Thailand, and Malta for the award. The winner will be announced during ITB.   

Additionally, during the fair, ProColombia and the Colombia Country Brand will award German cyclist Guido Kunze with a certificate recognizing him as "Colombian Ambassador in Germany." Kunze became famous in Colombia after cycling across the country from north to south, in order to travel the "long chocolate route." The event will be held at the ProColombia stand on March 7th at 11:30 am.