A new guide for sailors sets yachting tourism on Colombia’s Caribbean coast on a new course.
The minister for commerce, industry and tourism, Sergio Diaz Granados at Monday’s launch of the guide, said that the increase in yachting tourism to the area could create up to 15,000 jobs.
The guide, which seeks to attract up to 10% of the nearly two million yachts in the Caribbean sea, was founded by the Fishing Club of Cartagena, who came up with the concept 11 years ago, and whose members contributed hours of work and information free of charge.
Cartagena mayor Bruce Mac Master Rojas, was also at the presentation and said that “now we see that Colombia is finally entering the international standards of sailing and tourism that we have been relatively backward in compared to other coutries of the greater Caribbean.
Panama and Venezuela along with the Eastern Caribbean islands have been working to develop their yachting industry over the past decades providing good marinas and setting up a charter industry. These initiatives have brought tens of millions of dollars into the economies of even small Caribbean islands.