2024-09-07 14:15:28
In this regard, the Ministry of Tourism and Economic Development of Huila indicated that the events seek to boost the economy of the region. And in November, the IX Ibero-American Meeting of Rural Tourism will be held in the Department and for the first time, it will be held in the region.
For this program, 22 countries have already confirmed their attendance, and there will also be delegations from the departments of Colombia.
Events and economy
In this sense, for the second half of 2024, there are programs that the Department will host, as expressed by Jorge Andrés Gechem, Secretary of Tourism and Economic Development of Huila: “next week we have the International Fair of Coffee, Cocoa and Agrotourism (Ficca), an event that has been positioning itself as the most important in the south of the country, and at the end of this month we will carry out a new tourist caravan, the destination is the municipality of San Agustín.”
“We want to do something similar to the strategy of living Colombia and traveling through it, which allows us, both locals and tourists, to travel with peace of mind, in our region, destinations and wherever we go, to be received with entrepreneurship fairs, which will take place on September 28 and 29,” said the administrator.
The official said that they are looking to promote tourism with new events, “in October we will have the Heroes Fest, which is the most important popular economy event in the country, and is organized by the national government’s entrepreneurship and innovation agency (INNpulsa Colombia), and historically and for the first time it will be held in the department of Huila, on October 10 and 11 of this year.”
The secretary pointed out that this event is important and allows Huila to carry out bigger and better programs.
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The purpose
“The objective is to make our local entrepreneurs visible, in addition to strengthening the corporate network, and promoting the department of Huila at a national level, attracting tourism that will allow us to boost the economy,” said the official.
And in the month of November, the IX Ibero-American Meeting of Rural Tourism will be held in the Department and this event will take place in the region.
“For the first time, this meeting will be held in Huila with the participation of 22 Latin American countries and also delegations from the departments of Colombia. This is a great opportunity to show all our potential and the advantages we have in our region, and we did not win it because the Department was ranked among the 10 regions in terms of tourism, mainly nature and rural tourism, so there is a great opportunity here as well, not only to continue promoting tourism, but also income,” said Jorge Gechem.
Fair in Neiva
The secretary indicated that in December of this year, he hopes to hold a similar fair in the capital of Opita. “This will allow more opportunities for entrepreneurs. Here we are very committed to the goals of the departmental development plan, and the objectives are more economic development and more tourism.”
In light of the events planned and the strike in the transport sector, the director indicated that this aspect is beyond their control, but he is confident that through dialogue, both parties can reach an agreement.
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More and better tourism
Likewise, “we want more and better tourism, we have all strategies that we want to implement to strengthen the promotion of our region. We are the first exporter of specialty coffee in the country and I think that this brand must be sold well, therefore we invite all Colombians and people, regardless of their nationality, to come and enjoy this product,” added the secretary.
In addition to promoting our tourist destinations, they are also preparing strategies to strengthen training, capacity building, and bilingualism for tourist guides and actors in this sector. They also intend to strengthen this brand definitively, because Huila is a paradise waiting to be discovered.
Regional excursion
And in the municipality of Pitalito, the South Colombian Tourism Meeting was held and they are working on strategies to increase the number of expeditionaries who come to the San Agustín Archaeological Park, which has decreased and they are seeking to integrate, in addition to these territorial entities already mentioned, Isnos.
In this regard, Liliana Serrano Corrales, director of the project: Strengthening the competitiveness of the tourism value chain of the San Agustín Destination Swisscontact- Chamber of Commerce of Huila – Government of Huila, said: “the specific purpose of this meeting is to take the first step to institutionalize an event that hopefully year after year, motivates this chain to meet, around a program that will have an academic and marketing component, where there will be promotional stands, which will allow us to have, as far as possible in the future, spaces for linking and business meetings.”
“What we are looking for is to increase the flow of tourists in the region, to be prepared and updated about the products and the offer we have to provide to these people, in addition to knowing the special reason why they like to visit the department of Huila,” added the director.
“As for the destination brand, our wonderful brand, called ‘San Agustín Enigmático’, this is a process that lasted six months, which was carried out by a professional team of consultants in digital issues, and included the participation of businessmen. These were very nice days, in the sense that the companies themselves were allowed to express their ideas,” said Liliana Serrano.
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Tourism has dropped
At this moment, the situation of tourism as such in the municipalities of San Agustín and Isnos and at the departmental level, “the occupancy rates have indeed dropped, it is a reality. In the specific case of San Agustín, it has been a worrying issue, we have really already passed the high season, last year at Easter we had an occupancy rate of 80%, compared to this same period in 2024, which was 30%. It has really been a very hard blow for entrepreneurs and operators, for the entire value chain.”
The same thing happened in January and June, when tourists concentrated in northern Huila. This second semester, between August and September, is the season when foreign tourists, mainly Europeans, visit the destination and we have had an interesting flow of visitors; this year we have seen a lot of Italian tourists.