Tourism can be a blessing or a curse. A blessing when it can be sustainably developed. A curse when a country’s economy is fully dependent on this paranoid industry. The former is the path that the Colombian government is fixated on. The controversial campaign of “Colombia is passion” and the desire to turn Colombia into medical tourism hub are testament of this. The potential is phenomenal and unlike many other countries Colombia can develop many different types of tourism industries; among them some never before conceived, but potentially beneficial.
Tourists are always drawn by the exotic, by whatever they can’t find in their own countries. Be it astonishing natural settings, distinctive cultures, rich histories, smiley and friendly peoples etc. Colombia has the ability to meet any of those touristic needs and more.
Yet, most Colombians have been programmed to promote the country in the same way. The typical answer that a foreigner will hear when asking a Colombian about the country is that “Colombia is a beautiful country with wonderful beaches, mountains, friendly people, and of course with the most beautiful women.” There are even businesses specializing in teaching people how to promote the country. For a fee of US$ 110 anyone can become a “multiplier” able to give conferences on “why to believe in Colombia.”
When promoting the country, most Colombians consciously avoid mentioning other areas that Colombia is well known for: violence, druglords, massacres, guerrillas, paramilitaries, internally displaced, cocaine, kidnappings, corruption, etc. Naturally, any person that actually promotes the real Colombia would be called unpatriotic to say the least. After all, Colombians are tired of hearing all the negative stereotypes that the country has deservedly gained.
Nevertheless, these so call negative areas give Colombia a comparative advantage. As any economist would argue, comparative advantages are there to be exploited. This is something that Colombia has done extremely well as the export industries of cocaine and paramilitaries can attest. But appropriate touristic attractions that seek to exploit the real Colombia would certainly attract a wide range of tourists and may pioneer a change in attitude of locals and foreigners alike. The idea is not as insane as the readers may be thinking.
Let’s take for instance the obvious industry: cocaine. It’s futile to hide that Colombia is the source of over 90 percent of the cocaine entering the U.S; as it’s pointless to conceal that the US$ billions of the cocaine trade are funding crimes by paramilitaries, guerrilla, army, as well as contributing to endemic corruption in all sectors of society. But Colombians continue deluding themselves by focusing on other more positive attractions that the country has to offer or downplaying the negative stereotypes that country is known for.
Other more realistic approaches are based on explaining foreigners of the negative effects of cocaine for the country. For instance, Casa Kiwi, a hostel in Medellin, widely visited by backpackers, states in its website that, “If not for your own well-being, we would encourage you to refrain from supporting violence against the Colombian people by purchasing cocaine.” Another example is the Colombian Vice President, Francisco Santos, who travels around the world explaining that, “every gram of cocaine you inhale destroys four square metres of rainforest.”
These are of course important announcements. But they do not achieve their purpose of dissuading the consumption of cocaine or explaining the complex effects that cocaine has in the country.
The correct approach may be based in creating real life scenarios that provide first hand experiences to the effects that cocaine has in society; something similar to what museums are for culture and history. In Colombia there are museums devoted to coffee, gold, sugar cane, indigenous culture, even bullfighting. Therefore, something resembling a cocaine museum should not be such an absurd proposition, more so when there are tourists visiting drug labs already.
The importance of a cocaine museum is the educational purpose that it would have. It can explain the process of making the coca leaf into cocaine, which includes adding sulphuric acid, sodium carbonate, acetone, ammonia and potassium permanganate. It can then illustrate the extensive social, ecological, economic and political problems that entail the production and consumption of one gram of cocaine. It could offer, therefore, a crash course to understand the realities of the country.
A cocaine museum would not encourage cocaine consumption. Rather, it could become a powerful deterrent by raising the consciousness of local and foreigners alike. Foreigners would be more aware of what lies behind that innocuous line of coke. For locals it would be even more significant since they would have to accept the realities of the country. Only by accepting those realities would they be able to change the catalysts of the trade. A cocaine museum would only be the start.
Colombia may potentially rival other country’s particular touristic attractions. For instance, instead of going to Germany to see the remnants of concentrations camps, people could visit abandoned FARC’s camps; instead of going to Vietnam to observe the atrocities of the U.S. sponsored war, people could visit Colombia’s deserted towns and dead agricultural fields due glisophate fumigation; instead of going to Cambodia and Rwanda to learn about genocide, people could visit the mass graves of the paramilitaries; instead of going to South Africa to learn about apartheid, people could experience the geographical apartheid and institutionalized racism in Colombia; instead of going to parts of Africa to get a glimpse of children dying of hunger, people could visit particular towns in Colombia.
Only by showing the real Colombia to tourists and locals alike can Colombians accept and start taking actions to change the country; a country that everyone knows, but everyone conceals.
notnow
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... Casa Kiwi in Medellin is a joke. Last time I knew people staying there, they couldn't sleep because people were making noise while snorting coke until the sun came up |
azunoman
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... Great article....as for the comment above about the consumption of cocaine in the hostel. Colombia needs to outlaw possession of any quantity of cocaine. When the government allows personal consumption then the government and it's society is approving it's use. Yes, 90% of the cocaine consumed in the western world comes from Colombia. But in those countries it is against the law, which discourages a majority of people from possessing cocaine. Colombia needs to strengthen it's own laws accordingly. |
George
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... Que lastima que no conozca la verdad de lo que se esta desarrollando en Colombia en el tema turístico, lo invito señor a que venga a su País y se documente un poco más acerca de lo que se esta haciendo y como se estan vinculando a las comunidades locales, como hay hoteles certificados medioambientales, la verdad me parece bien que se quede en Hong Kong, porque personas como usted no merecen estar trabajando por Colombia, si hay cosas mala y tambien las conocen, pero por algo estan llegando los inversionistas de cadenas hoteleras internacionales, Señor Castañeda, documentese más con respecto al turismo de Colombia. |
Andrewmann552
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... They could also give bus tours of the ghettos where the mass numbers of the displaced live, or go to the rural areas for a taste of areas worst off than Africa. Then all the tourists can all have milkshakes in a Neoliberal Economics center where the beauty of a privatized country can be displayed LOL. |
gringomedeliin
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... This is something that Colombia has done extremely well as the export industries of cocaine and paramilitaries can attest You seem to have left the FARC off your list here, people could visit the mass graves of the paramilitaries; again you left off the FARc how about a tour of one of thier land mines then the homes set up to care for those that have had limbs blown off, how about building a wall listing the names of those killed by the FARC by their bombs and land mines. But I would suggest maybe you could get a group of young film makers together make a film about what the drug trade has down to Colombia, you could try and get funding from a number of groups then market it to PBS in the states to show, or enter it in one of the many film festivals. |
azunoman
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... George you can obviously read English, mind translating for us? Or you like playing with yourself? andrew...Colombia isn't a country full of displaced...making it out that they are a direct result of neoliberal economics is just a bs moniker.....it was so much better here when? |
doug van eps
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... i have been to colombia 5 times, and i loved her every time. i am always telling my friends and strangers about how wonderful colombia is, but i mention also that you have to be careful. it is sad but it has to be mentioned to anyone who is considering visiting there. hopefully one day the warning part can be eliminated from the conversations. but please remember, other countries in central and south america are dangerous also. colombia does not have a monopoly on danger. i will visit colombia again!!! i am also working on moving to medellin, and start a business. so much for the danger part. my love for medellin and colombia in general will not keep me from visiting or living there. |
Rolanpo
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... En realidad se nota que el señor Castañeda hace mucho que no visita su pais, no se trata solo de ver las cosas desde el punto de vista en el que nos hemos visto envueltos los Colombianos, para nadie es oculto que han habiado muchas circustancias de violencia, drogas.. etc, pero eso no impide que queramos mostrar lo lindo de nuestro pais mientras se lucha por erradicar lo malo, algo que perjudica son comentarios malintencionados, sin criterio ni fundamento como los de este articulo, hay que documentarse antes de emitir juicios. |
gringomedeliin
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... I guess some people don't realize this is an english paper not a spanish one so I will not be wasting my time reading spanish responses on here |
