BOGOTA, A SAFE DESTINATION FOR BUSINESS TOURISM, MEETINGS AND EVENTS
Bogota, the capital city of Colombia, is an interesting destination for international meetings and events. Historically, it has been amongst the safest cities in the country, with crime rates that have constantly decreased over the past decade.
The peace agreement signed in 2016 with the biggest insurgent group of the country has certainly improved security conditions all over the country, with Bogota benefiting with better perception and more international visitors. In 2019, the city led the attraction of foreign tourists compared to other Colombian capitals, while in 2022 for the second time (first in 2020) Bogotá it was recognized as “South America’s Leading Business Travel Destination” by the World Travel Awards and its airport was also recognized as South America’s Leading Airport 2022.
In fact, the Destination Performance Index (DPI) presented by the International Association of Congresses and Conventions (Icca) highlighted Colombia’s leadership in South America in the category of ‘Events not affected’; positioning it as one of the countries that recovered the most in holding events planned before the pandemic. In the ranking in which 8,000 meetings and more than 50 countries were analyzed, ours ranked 20th globally.
As an example of organizations that trust the city to host their events, Bogota held the 17th World Congress of Neurosurgery (WFNS 2022) on March 2022, an international event that gathered more than 1.500 industry professionals from over 90 countries.
Recently the Society of American Travel Writers, a non-profit organization comprised of the travel industry’s experienced journalists, photographers, editors, broadcast/video/film producers, bloggers, website owners, public relations experts and hospitality industry representatives from the United States, Canada and beyond, meet about 280 members in its Annual Convention, from September 8 to 12, 2022.
Despite the impacts of the Covid 19 pandemic, Bogotá has been a resilient city, and the recovery in terms of professional events is proof of this, some of the events that have chosen our capital as the host city are:
- Devcon Etherum Conference 2022, October 11 – 14, expect to receive around, 3.000 people 7th Global symposium of Health System Research 2022 , in October 2022 with expectations of around 1,200 attendees from Europe, Asia an USA.
- General Session of the International Association for Dental Research -IADR- in 2023, expecting more than 3.000 pax.
- 76th Congress of the Liga Medicorum Homeopathica Internationalist -LMHI- 2023, 400 pax Latin American Annual Meeting of Dermatoligies 2027, expecting 3.000 pax.
Evidently, as any large city (with have a population about 11 million people), mugging and pickpocketing are issues that can be experienced in Bogota, so taking measures such as not exhibiting jewelry or avoiding using electronic devices while on public transport or on the streets is highly recommended. Also, is not recommended to take a taxi from the street. Instead, ask for a taxi to the hotel or restaurant, or use some digital apps such as Uber, Cabify, In-driver, and Didi is suggested.
Nevertheless, Bogotá keeps maintaining its policy to care about the residents and visitors that are coming for tourism and even more, doing business, and that´s why Bogotá has been classified as one of the cities with the best strategy for attracting foreign direct investment. Bogotá ranks eighth in the ranking of cities of the future of America by FDi Magazine (2021 – 2022). Security is a matter we are all concert about; we cannot deny the situation in the 80s and 90s. But Colombia faces a completely different reality because of the changes that have been implemented since 2000.
For sure we have gained a reputation in this sense, but you can be in Colombia, go through different places, and have an amazing experience. You must know that any kind of threat are relevant to us, the good news is thanks to the Colombian government’s efforts the number of those threats is at its lowest point in decades. The Colombian government signed a peace agreement with the Rebels. Also, mainly during the first quarter of this year, we experienced some civil unrest and disruptions throughout the country. Currently, the government with different national agencies are working closely to have all those civil concerns addressed.
In terms of infrastructure the city through its Security Department, leads, plan, implement and evaluate the public policy on security, coexistence, and access to justice, as well as manage emergency services, to guarantee the exercise of the rights and freedoms of the citizens of the Capital District, these actions work together with the National Police.
[1] World Travel Awards™ was established in 1993 to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence across all key sectors of the travel, tourism and hospitality industries. Today, the World Travel Awards™ brand is recognised globally as the ultimate hallmark of industry excellence. https://www.worldtravelawards.com/award-south-americas-leading-business-travel-destination-2022 https://www.worldtravelawards.com/award-south-americas-leading-airport-2022
[4] https://satw.org/2022-convention-bogota-colombia/
[6] https://healthsystemsresearch.org/hsr2022/
[7] https://en.investinbogota.org/why-bogota/business-climate-colombia-and-bogota-region/