Turismo en Colombia: un sector en crecimiento

Tourism is a growing industry in Colombia is still required for strengthening human capital primarily, allowing dynamic employment intensive. In response to the strengthening of this sector, the last two governments have pointed to tourism as a key tool for growth, adopting a policy to place greater emphasis on tourism and increase resources for the promotion of the country. According to DANE, tourism is the third line of the country's exports. The figures for 2011 show a GDP growth of 5.9%, the highest since 2008: the sector hotels and restaurants increased 4.4%, and by June 2012 reached 26.9% of persons employed in the country, thus becoming one of the main sectors that contribute directly to the generation of employment in the country. Moreover, the participation of sector production Trade, restaurants and hotels on the domestic industry, making it the fourth most important activity in their share of GDP. The production sector has a positive trend over the decade, creating a gap with Colombia's traditional economic sectors such as agriculture, mining and construction, among others. Furthermore, when comparing spending doing both foreign travelers in Colombia nationals abroad, can demonstrate that inbound tourism despite being smaller, spending exceeded Colombians visiting other countries, thereby putting demonstrated the increased purchasing power and willingness to pay by foreigners in Colombia. In this regard, the countries of origin of foreign visitors are mainly the Americas: United States, Venezuela and Ecuador. As a result of the increase in foreign visitors and spending levels, has made the foreign exchange earnings in the country has presented a significant growth in the last decade. In response to industry growth, the entities responsible for the promotion of international and domestic destinations and tourism products of Colombia have directed their efforts to fund events, training and consultancy. This fact makes evident the efforts made to promote the tourism sector in the different spaces that are generated throughout the country.