60 New Hotels

Just thought I would post this, taken from Hotels magazine:

Some 70 Hotel Projects To Be Developed in Colombia in 2005 - Tourism Deputy Minister

La Republica - Colombia

A multinational hotel sector company will build at least six hotels in Colombia, and some 60 new hotel projects, including small and medium-sized ones, will be developed in 2005 in the country, Tourism Deputy Minister Carlos Zarruk said on January 15, 2005.

The country's tourism sector has been registering in the past few months record high occupancy rates, Zarruk noted.

The Government targets to attract a significant number of foreign tourists to the country in 2005, and plans to develop an ambitious advertising campaign to boost tourism on various destinations. The Colombian regional development agency Findeter has set aside 40 bln Colombian pesos ($17 mln/13 mln euro) in 2004 for small and medium-sized hotels to boost the improvement of tourist services and hotels network.

Some 59 pct of the tourism sector services providers are micro companies, 33 pct of them are small companies, 6.0 pct are medium-sized companies and 2.0 pct are large conglomerates.

Some 50 pct of the guests registered in Colombian hotels were on a business trip, 40 pct of them were on leisure, entertainment or vacations. Most of the tourists came from Bogota, Medellin and Cali, according to data of the Tourism Ministry.

Spanish Air Comet consortium and the airline Air Europa are seeking to enter the Colombian market, targeting to bring more tourists to the country.

http://www.la-republica.com.co

January 17, 2005

By Hunter on Jan 18, 2005, 14:30 in Friendly Talkzone.

Lionheart says on Jan 18, 2005, 15:25:

more pink glasses? I was accused of wearing pink glasses when I posted my view of seeing an optimistic future for Colombia. I have been collecting reports like this over the past two years and I noted that many multi-national corporations are opening their minds to Colombia. But having multi-national hotel and airline corporations moving into Colombia is only one side of the cookie. I think it is more notable that Colombian business people are seeing a tourism market growing and want to get their share of it.

Bottom line: Both international businesses and Colombian businesses are showing optimism and are not hiding in fear.

Lionheart says on Jan 18, 2005, 22:43:

I agree Tinto It isn't just the corporations opening their minds, but Colombia itself opening the gates for them. The increase of tourism is one good start, the development of local high-tech another start. I don't think the effects will be very noticible in numbers for some years to come, especially when you look at the GDP. In many sectors Colombia is still very protective, like in the automotive industy, I am undecided if that is a good thing or not. On the one side it supports local production, if it keeps up with the demand, on the other side it can hinder progress. I see restrictions of imports, but many exports aren't impressive either today.

Gomezman5 says on Jan 18, 2005, 22:47:

Good Morning Lionheart......just wait a minute I said you were overly optimmistic. Then you said, maybe you were wearing colored glasses....but I recently told you that they were not pink ones!! Rather they are rose colore, because rose colored ones are even stronger than pink colored glasses
G5

Lionheart says on Jan 18, 2005, 22:56:

G5 Noticing improvements, accepting that they do exist, and hoping that they continue improving are positive signs of evolution. They are not signs I merely invented by wearing rose colored glasses, other people are publishing them and seeing them too. I may be an optimist, but you are trying to ignore positive changes, G5, being a pessimist. No matter how much you insist that the status quo won't change, time will prove you wrong. I never said Colombia will change fast, but it is already changing slowly.

Gomezman5 says on Jan 18, 2005, 23:03:

No no no..never said status quo won't change..... It just will not be changing in the near future....By the way, I just sent you a P/M...whether they change or not ?? who knows??? In the meantime...rose colored/ pink colored/ green colored/ you have some impressive stats. When I run for President of Colombian, if I win, I'll appoint you to my cabinet

G5