Colombia re-branding?

It also mentions that Colombia gets 700,000 tourists a year, first time I have ever seen a figure on the tourist numbers, don,t know how accurate it is:

From Friday's Globe and Mail

Tired of its image as a country of gun-toting guerrillas and narco-traffickers, Colombia is attempting to "rebrand" itself on the back of another Latin cliché -- passion.

Tearing a page from the State of Virginia's "Virginia is for lovers" playbook, the South American country has launched a "Colombia equals passion" campaign.

"We are building a new brand, the Colombia brand and we are attaching to it passion. You can see it with a heart in flames," said Luis Ernesto Mejia Castro, Colombia's Minister of Mining and Energy, pointing at the country's new (red) logo in an interview this week in Toronto.

"We cannot blame the press for our image. We have failed because we have good things to show and now is the time to show them. We have the best managing skills in Latin America, we are exporting the best brains."

For years, outsiders could have been forgiven for thinking that Colombia had a passion for only one thing: violence. More than 3,000 people a year have been killed in the four-decade-long war being waged by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) against both government security forces, and paramilitaries -- right-wing, illegal, armed groups who oppose the guerrillas.

The guerrillas have funded their war through the billion-dollar cocaine trade, as well as a lucrative kidnapping industry. The FARC are so skilled at extortion, they even developed "express kidnappings," where they hold victims for the afternoon while relatives came up with a ransom, and pesca milagrosa, where they set up roadblocks and demand money from those netted in their traps.

That's made tourism, not to mention foreign investment, a bit of a tough sell. The country receives about 700,000 tourists a year and would like to increase this number to one million -- but in Canada, Colombia's image has been stained by years of civil war and violence.

"It's hard to change your brand especially when you're up against Cuba, Dominican Republic and Mexico," said Jonathan Carroll, president of itravel2000, one of Canada's largest travel agencies. "But there are several tour operators who go to Cartagena and once you get people into the destination, it's great value for the money. Look at Cuba 10 years ago. No one went there and now it's a significant destination for Canadians."

Since President Alvaro Uribe took office in 2002, much has changed in this South American country of 44 million. His aggressive U.S.-backed campaign to tackle violence and drugs has yielded fruit and he has succeeded in pushing back the guerrillas and reclaiming land from drug traffickers and FARC. Critics say his democratic security initiative has also resulted in further militarization, and that he should not have offered paramilitaries amnesty.

Still, Mr. Mejia Castro defends the record of Mr. Uribe, whose campaign slogan was "A firm hand and a big heart" and whose popularity ratings are as high as 75 per cent.

"Look, in 2002, we had 13,000 murders; this year we will reduce this by one half. In 2002, we had over 3,000 kidnappings. This year so far we have had 257," Mr. Mejia Castro said. "The government's commitment is to protect all people who live, work and invest in Colombia."

Mr. Mejia Castro was in Toronto this week to sell the new Colombia, and encourage mining and energy companies to invest.

Colombia's economy is now growing by 4 per cent a year, and direct foreign investment for 2005 is expected to reach $5-billion (U.S.). Unemployment has dropped to 13 per cent from a high of 20 per cent in 2002. The U.S. State Department notes that although Colombia remains a dangerous place to travel, violence has decreased markedly in most urban centres in the country.

While Canada's mining sector is heavily involved in Colombia, the banking sector has been more hesitant. Canadians have gotten in trouble doing business there, most famously in the case of Norbert Reinhart, a mining executive, who was released by captors in January, 1999, after trading places with an employee who had been snatched the previous summer.

According to sources, a major Canadian bank recently declined to bid on the privatization of Corporacion Granahorrar, one of Colombia's biggest banks. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya, a Spanish bank, snapped it up this week for $443-million (U.S.).

Canada imported $155.8-million in goods and services from Colombia last year, behind 14 other countries, and invested $261-million in 2004, making Canada the country's 10th largest foreign investor.

"People in the energy and mining sector are more daring, but the financial sector doesn't understand the country as well," said Catalina Chaux, Colombia's consul-general in Toronto.

A group of Colombian émigrés in Toronto recently launched an "I believe in Colombia" campaign, similar to the government's "Passion" campaign, and aimed at remarketing the country as a tourism and investment destination. Ms. Chaux points out that despite problems of poverty and violence, Time magazine rated Colombians as the third-happiest people in the world and, of course, one of the most passionate. "We are not trying to hide our problems. But we have also resolved to fight them and we need to celebrate our good points," she said.

By Hunter on Nov 4, 2005, 05:23 in Friendly Talkzone.

megs622 says on Nov 11, 2005, 12:49:

we shall see........... As a marketing major, I have been paying special attention to the campaign launches. I wait to see what the results are!!!!

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ronald1168 says on Nov 11, 2005, 13:31:

700.000 Tourists in Colombia?!? I have the idea that the Colombian authorities count as well the Colombians abroad who return to Colombia on their anual holidays.

R. Donders
London
ronald at donders.co.uk

ronald@donders.co.uk

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ws244 says on Nov 11, 2005, 13:56:

tourism Typical of the Socialist liberal Republic of Canada, comdemning U.S policies everywhere in the world, not acknowledging that without 3 billion per year in U S aid to Colombia, that country would be a disaster today, yet now cashing in on the new wave of supposed tourism in Colombia. Of course then there are also the Canadians living in the U.S. taking american jobs yet Canadians always and forever Canadian. Yes, the typical new wave and thinking of American immigrant.

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kernow62 says on Nov 11, 2005, 15:50:

It seems as though foreign aid is really aid for US industries, just as wars seem to be a way to boost US industries. Just think if you keep wars going you will have lots of employed people, the overall figures will look great.

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Sam Salmon says on Nov 11, 2005, 17:45:

There are already all kings There are already all kinds of Canucks down Colombia way and not just the few on this often fractious forum(!)
San Andres/Providencia are very popular with folks from Ontario and Quebec-charters serve that market all winter-interesting that Mejia Castro never pointed that out.
It's true what he said about Canucks in CTG-they love us there and we love CTG-even in the darkest days we visited regularly.
There are now direct flights from Toronto to Bogotá as well.

' a la orden!'

' a la orden!'

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Hunter says on Nov 12, 2005, 09:24:

ronald1168 I also suspect they count anybody with a foreign passport, which would include non-resident Colombians.

I doubt they count the cruise ship visitors that stop in Ctg and other places for a few hours or so.

Hunter

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Hunter says on Nov 12, 2005, 09:27:

ws244 Plan Colombia is not 3 billion US dollars a year, that is for the programme, which is over several years, also the majority of the money goes straight back to US industry, but why shouldn't it, at least the Colombian goverment ends up with cheap helicopters etc.

Hunter

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ws244 says on Nov 12, 2005, 12:51:

plan co Sorry bout that, they have spent 3 billion and the plan for 2006 is about 650 million i understand. The military end is called FMS
"Foreign Military Sales" which means 50% of the sales has to come back and benefit american manufacturers.

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Hunter says on Nov 12, 2005, 13:39:

ws244 The second figure sounds a bit better, also there are mostly US personnel contractors employed by the US doing differant jobs, where a percentage of the money goes as well.

The majority of the money goes back into in US hands in some form, but it still helps Colombia out overall.

Hunter

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