Colombia announced on Monday it has published 14 travel guide books to help tourists find their way through the South American country.
The guidebooks, published since 2010 have been made available in five languages, promotion agency Proexport said in a press release.
According to the agency, the books are available in English, Spanish, German, French and Portuguese. Proexport failed to inform where the guidebooks can be purchased.
The guidebooks are the last of a series of initiatives to promote tourism to Colombia, said the agency.
Proexport stressed successful efforts to have Colombia mentioned in internationally marketed guidebooks from well-reputed names like Michelin and National Geographic (Petite Fute, O Melhor Da Colombia, Reisen Kolumbie are other major international titles), and features in popular online travel sites like Trip Advisor and Virtual Tourist, highlighting what the country has to offer.
Another strategy involves exposing foreign media insiders to Colombia as a self-defined product, said Proexport. In the past three years, the company asserted to have brought 787 journalists from 28 countries — including writers for prominent outlets such as El Clarin (Argentina), Travel Weekly (USA), El Pais (Spain), World Heritage (Japan), Volta au Mundo (Portugal), Le Monde (France) — on tours of various locations of interest the company has chosen to sell on the international stage.
Since 2010, almost 7,000 audiovisual and written publications in prominent media outlets across the world have focused on Colombia as a travel destination. Over the same timeframe, the number of multinational corporations that include Colombia in their portfolios has increased by over 60%, from 187 to 300. Today, travel packages to Colombia, corporate and tourist alike, are being sold by 500 wholesalers, and over 112,000 travel agencies in 30 countries worldwide (as opposed to 16 countries in 2010).