The agreement intends to give Colombian companies the same access conditions as local firms to the markets of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay, the four member nations of Mercosur.

The agreement was signed during a meeting of the Pacific Alliance — the other major trade bloc in the region, which includes Colombia, Mexico, Chile, and Peru — that featured Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos as well as Brazilian President Michel Temer and Uruguayan President Tabaré Vázquez.

The development came amid a larger push by the two trade blocs to strengthen ties, a goal that has been in discussions for years and may now be moving closer to reality. The meeting produced a “roadmap” plan to work more formally to align the two commercial alliances, which combined include nearly four-fifths of the region’s population and 85% of its gross domestic product, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

While the roadmap didn’t make concrete advancements, it outlines the next steps to take to further advance the work needed to align on issues including the elimination of non-tariff barriers and regulatory cooperation as well as generally facilitating more trade in goods, services, and tourism.

María Lorena Gutiérrez, Colombian minister of commerce, industry, and tourism, signed the bill between Colombia and Mercosur and said that these markets are particularly appealing to Colombian firms in the software, consulting, and professional services spaces.

“For Colombia, it is very important to establish clear conditions of access to markets so that our companies can compete on equal terms with the service industries of the Mercosur countries,” said Gutiérrez. “This agreement generates legal certainty for entrepreneurs.”

Photo: Colombian Commerce Minister María Lorena Gutiérrez signs the agreement to deepen ties between Colombia and Mercosur. (Credit: Ministry of Commerce)

Coinciding with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos’ trip to Brasilia to meet with Brazilian President Michel Temer, the two nations signed a memorandum of understanding to promote cross-border business training, entrepreneurship, and the digital exchange of information.

A joint declaration, signed by both nations’ commerce ministers, María Lorena Gutiérrez of Colombia and Marcos Jorge de Lima of Brazil, also will also lead to the cooperation on certificates of origin that Gutiérrez says will “simplify trade procedures” on products shipped between the two countries.

The two presidents are expected to meet one more time before Santos exits office, with Temer accepting an invitation to visit Colombia in June.

(Photo credit: Colombian Ministerio de Comercio Industria Y Turismo)

This figure represents a 5.4% increase compared to 2016, when recently downwardly adjusted numbers show an inflow of almost $5.5 billion USD. (The Banco de la República had previously estimated a provisional total of nearly $5.7 billion USD for 2016.)

Moreover, according to the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Tourism, last year’s all-time high is 68% higher than the foreign revenue of $3.4 billion USD in 2010, right around the time when Colombia’s security situation had started to improve enough to begin attracting more international tourists.

“These figures confirm that tourism is an engine of development for the country,” said María Lorena Gutiérrez, Colombian minister of commerce, industry, and tourism. “Each year, our country is more attractive for foreign visitors. Now we must continue strengthening our tourism proposition and making this industry more and more sustainable.”

READ MORE: NY Times Ranks Colombia Second on List of 52 Places to Go in 2018

The news comes on the heels of Colombia gaining even more international recognition as a tourism hot spot. The New York Times ranked the South American nation second on its annual list of the “52 Places to Go in 2018,” TripAdvisor named Medellín as the number-one “Travel Destination on the Rise in South America,” and Booking.com put Bogotá on its “Top 10 Up-and-Coming Travel Destination” list this year.

Medellín has also shown impressive growth recently as an event tourism destination. In 2016, it hosted 42 international association meetings — the same number as Chicago and Zurich — and seven times as many as the former world murder capital held in 2006.

Photo: Cayo Cangrejo, off the islands of San Andrés and Providencia in the Caribbean, is one of many tropical paradises in Colombia. (Credit: Roberto San Andrés)

The trade- and business-related aspects of the agreements, which were signed late last month following a bilateral meeting between Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, focus on erasing regulations and “tramites” that slow down time to market across borders.

Photo: Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski at the IV Gabinete Binacional Colombia-Perú. (Credit: Colombian Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Tourism)

Colombian Commerce Minister María Lorena Gutiérrez said that some of the efforts align with the “Menos Trámites, Más Simples” (“Fewer Processes, More Simple”) campaign to cut down on paperwork and process requirements for companies engaging in foreign trade. That campaign has already fully eliminated 10 processes in Colombia, while simplifying 19 others and automated another 37, according to the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Tourism.

At the same time, Colombia and Peru both stated that they have reaffirmed their commitment to fight illegal mining and cross-border criminal activities while still looking to maintain what President Kuczynski called “a fluid border that promotes the interdependence of our populations and their commercial exchange.”

Other agreements included provisions that focus on exchanges in the areas of defense and security, diplomatic offices, telecommunications, healthcare, and protecting indigenous peoples.

The signing was the most tangible outcome of a meeting earlier this year, following the World Economic Forum in Davos, between Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen as well as various other governmental and private sector stakeholders.

The head of state categorized the discussions as encouraging and hopes that it will be the start of more commercial relationships being formalized in the months and years to come. The meeting also focused on topics including the potential for trade agreements, Colombia’s push to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and the Andean nation’s transition into its so-called “post-conflict” era of economic development.

The document was signed by representatives of the Colombian Ministry of Mines and Energy and the Federal Ministry for Sustainability and Tourism of Austria.

“Our goal is for Austrian businessmen to put their eyes on Colombia,” said Colombian Commerce Minister María Lorena Gutiérrez, who joined Santos on the visit.

“Strengthening relations with Austria opens up new opportunities for our entrepreneurs,” she added. “The arrival of foreign investment in various sectors of our economy favors development and competitiveness.”

(Photo credit: bogitw / Pixabay)

The Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Tourism (MinCIT) credited the positive results to the increasing number of corporate and social events as well as the greater frequency of flights to the country.

According to the ministry, business reasons (45.5%) were the leading prompt for hotel stays followed by leisure (41.7%) and conventions (7.4%). Breaking the numbers down to analyze only foreigners staying in Colombian hotels, the number was slightly more skewed toward business, with work accounting for 48.0% of check-ins.

The occupancy rate was particularly encouraging, said Colombian Commerce Minister María Lorena Gutiérrez, because it came on the heels of a low-air-traffic stretch in the country caused by an extended pilot strike that grounded more than half of the domestic pilots working for Avianca, the country’s largest airline.

“This is good news after the difficulties that the pilot strike of the country’s main airline, which last October had a significant disruption,” she said. Gutiérrez added that the health of “the hotel sector is important as it motivates foreign and national travelers to visit and travel to Colombia with more ease and investors to continue with their projects.”

She says that Colombia “requires infrastructure” capable of keeping up with the “sustained growth” of tourism in the country in recent years. “With these works we are taking a big step to consolidate Colombia as a world-class tourist destination,” said Gutiérrez.

Of the overall total, about $16 million USD will come from the ministry while some $4.2 million USD will be provided by the various local areas where the projects will be carried out, according to MinCIT.

The lion’s share of the investment, almost $16 million, will be used on revitalization projects in the Caribbean department of Magdalena in and around the popular beach city of Santa Marta. In the city itself, the ministry will fund the completion of the second phase of the Santa Marta theater project and an expansion of the Casa Madame Augustín museum.

The rest of these funds will go toward the restoration of the main plaza in the nearby city of Ciénaga and the development of boating areas in Puebloviejo and Nueva Venecia, two locations within the Santa Marta marshlands.

The second largest investment will be the $2.7 million USD devoted to further developing San Agustin, a top archeological site with mysterious statues that date back before the arrival of Columbus to the Americas. The funding will be primarily go toward a museum that will better highlight the history and cultural treasures of the area.

Additionally, in an attempt to promote nautical tourism, some $2.4 million USD will go to the construction of a pier in the department of Cauca near La Salvajina and a small marina on the Caribbean coast in Necoclí.

Another investment will be made into coffee zone tourism. Funds have been allotted for improvements to the cultural center of Salento, the overlook in Filandia, and various projects in the Caldas city of Chinchiná.

The government is also looking to capitalize on the increasing interest in Colombia from the international birding community. More than half a million dollars will be invested in trails that will help enthusiasts view endemic birds, as well as around 50 related informative signs, in the departments of Risaralda (municipality of Dosquebradas) and Arauca (Tame).

Photo: Enjoying some fresh-roasted Colombian coffee at a farm near Salento, one of the country’s top tourism destinations. (Credit: Jared Wade)

In year-to-date terms, exports from January through the end of November were 19.6% above 2016 levels. Oil exports were up year to date by 30.1%, while gold (26.7%), agricultural and food products (12.9%), and manufactured goods (2.6%) have also been trending positively.

“This is a sign of the road to recovery,” said Colombian Minister of Commerce, Industry, and Tourism María Lorena Gutiérrez.

The ministry also noted that this was the 13th straight month that Colombian exports have increased in year-over-year terms. With crude prices rising even further in December — hitting near-two-year highs amid protests in Iran and pipeline issues in the Middle East — the final month of the year is expected to continue that trend.

Other segments showing growth in November included transportation equipment (up by 412.6%), cork and wood goods (355.3%), fertilizers (270.5%), rubber goods (124.2%), iron and steel (41.3%), furniture and related parts (27.1%), machinery and electrical appliances (24.9%), and garments and clothing accessories (3.6%).

Photo: A Hapag Lloyd container ship hauling Colombian exports and imports in Cartagena, Colombia. (Credit: Roger W)

With nearly 5.8 million foreign visitors recorded from the start of January through the end of November, the country boasted growth of 27.7% compared to the 4.5 million arrivals during the same stretch in 2016, according to the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Tourism.

“The growth in the number of international travelers reaffirms that the country is on the map of world tourism.” — María Lorena Gutiérrezm, minister of tourism

In growth-rate terms, the spike has been most pronounced in the department (the Colombian equivalent of a state) of Nariño. Its massive 497% jump in visitors can be in part attributed to becoming much safer in recent years, which has allowed more coffee tourists and birding enthusiasts to visit.

The Caribbean departments of La Guajira (116.2%) — known for its remote, gorgeous beaches Cabo de la Vela and Punta Gallinas — and Atlántico (60.7%), highlighted by the nation’s Carnival capital Barranquilla, have also seen big gains over the past year.

READ MORE: Colombia Brought in Record $5.7 Billion in Foreign Tourism Dollars in 2016

November was a particularly good month for a country that continues to benefit from its improving reputation for security and a currency (Colombian peso) that has dropped precipitously in value since 2014. With 311,155 arrivals, the month saw a 35.8% growth compared to November 2016.

This marks a continuation in tourism growth that had exploded by 95% nationally between 2010 and 2016, according to government statistics. In dollar terms, this has led to an estimated increase in foreign tourism revenues from $3.4 billion USD in 2010 to almost $5.8 billion USD in 2016.

María Lorena Gutiérrez, Colombian minister of commerce, industry, and tourism, celebrated the ongoing growth and credited the government signing an historic peace deal with the guerrilla group FARC late last year for helping Colombia appeal to more international travelers.

“The growth in the number of international travelers reaffirms that the country is on the map of world tourism,” said Gutiérrez. “It is evident that tourism is one of the most economic activities that has benefited the most from the end of the conflict and that promotion strategies for the international community are working.”

Photo: The old city of Cartagena, the jewel of the Caribbean, continues to be the most iconic symbol of Colombian tourism. (Credit: Jared Wade)