Colombia’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism announced a new $1.5 million scheme to promote domestic tourism, with the slogan “Long live Colombia, the country that you carry in your heart,” reported the Ministry’s website on Friday.
The Ministry will use the money to strengthen the tourist appeal of several of the country’s less-visited regions.
“The idea is that more Colombians travel around the country. Domestic tourism is very important, it generates large quantities of money and huge prosperity in the regions,” explained Trade Minister Guillermo Plata.
The minister highlighted a significant increase in investment in Colombia’s tourist industry in recent years, from $2 million in 2006 to almost $26 million in 2009.
Plata explained, “It’s a sector that nowadays has become our third most important source of revenue. As Colombia regains its tranquility, its peace, more people will come to our country and more Colombians will travel around it.”
Colombia has recently been voted by readers of the Lonely Planet guide and Wanderlust travel magazine as one of the world’s top travel destinations.