France has recommended seven Colombian cities and three of the country's departments as potential tourist destinations for French nationals, reports website Dinero.com.
The European country's tourism authorities have removed travel warnings from several of Colombia's most popular holiday locations, including Santa Marta, Barranquilla, Bogota, Tunja, Bucaramanga, as well as the Zona Cafetero departments of Quindio, Risaralda and Caldas.
These regions will join Cartagena and San Andres in the list of destinations newly approved for travel by French tourists, who, after the Spanish, constitute the largest number of European visitors to Colombia.
Colombia's minister of commerce, industry and tourism, Luis Guillermo Plata, wrote that he was thankful to France "for providing a concrete result for the advancements made to the country's security."
"Let's not forget that until two years ago the majority of the Colombian map was colored red as warning to French travelers. Today things have clearly changed, and we can confirm that the process of improvement will continue," declared Guillermo Plata.
Between January and November of 2009 Colombia received more than 27,000 French tourists, who made up 2.2% of the total number of visitors to the country in that period.
