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Key Facts

The realization of the World Economic Forum in Medellin, ratifies Colombia as a destiny for events of great magnitude.
The latinamerican version of The 2016 World Economic Forum was held on June 16 and 17 of this present year, an event that brought together very important personalities in the political and business arena along with society leaders with the objective of determining the global economic agendas.
Medellin was chosen by the organzing department due to the fact that the last two decades this city has been an outstanding example of urban innovation, and also, Colombia is going though a historical moment, the peace treaty.
The first time that this event was held in Colombia was the 6 and 8 of April of 2010.
This 2016 Latinamerican version, was held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Medellin and an average of 790 people assisted.

Public figures from these 16 countries assited to represent their countries: Argentina, Brasil, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, China, Ecuador, España, Guatemala, México, Nicaragua, Paragua y Perú, Dominican Republic.
Eight important international organizations made part of this event: Banco Mundial, Banco Interamericano Desarrollo, Banco de Desarrollo de América Latina, Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe, Conferencia de las Naciones Unidas sobre Comercio y Desarrollo, Fondo de Población de las Naciones Unidas, la Organización Internacional del Trabajo y la Secretaría General Iberoamericana.

In addition to this, more than 357 international businessmen from 34 countries like Canada, Pakistan, Portugal, Japan, Germany and Italy registered to the event.

Colombia, a destiny of international standards of important events.
In the last five years, Colombia has been the site of important international events such as:
– World Economic Forum (Cartagena, April 2010). 450 participants from 42 countries.
– VI Summit of the Americas (Cartagena, April 2012). 33 heads of government.
– XII Annual Conference of the Global Development Network (Bogotá, January 2011). 350 participantes.
– VII Pacific Alliance Summit (Cali, may 2013). 400 businessmen and heads of government from Costa Rica, Spain, Guatemala, Chile, México and Perú.
– VII version of The World Urban Forum (Medellín, April 2014). Amongst the attendees there were 50 ministers, and 500 mayors.
– Summit “Rio + 20” (Bogotá, August 2014). 100 attendees.

Colombia has been the location of important international golf tournaments like the WEB.COM of the PGA Tour. In the year 2015, Colombia turned into the only Latinamerican country with two WEB.COM tournaments where sports professionals of more than 20 countries visited Bogota and Cartagena, a city that has the only TPC golf course of South America. Some of the upcoming events that will be held in Colombia are:
– In 2018, Barranquilla will be hosting the Juegos Centroamericanos y del Caribe.
– Cumbre Mundial de Líderes Locales y Regionales that will be held in Bogota during October 2016.
– One Young World Bogotá 2017, an event that will be reuniting around 2.000 individuals.

ProColombia gave support in the process of the 150 international events in 2015.
In 2015, ProColombia gave support in the process of the 150 international events. The cities with the most presence of international events are Bogota, Cartagena, Medellín and Cali.
51% of these events were business incentive trips, followed by 22% conventions and 18% congresses.

 

Reasons to host international events in Colombia
The country has 23 convention centers and 414 hotels designed for the purpose of meetings and events. The maximum capacity for an event of this size is up to 10,000 persons.
Up to now, 26 countries have connection with Colombia by 1.024 flights per week, that have an availability of 154.581 seats.
24 International Airlines operate in Colombia up to present day.
Countries with the most weekly flight frequencies are United States (252), Panamá (222), México (88) and Perú (79).
Bogotá (708 weekly frequencies), Medellín (135), Cali (69) y Cartagena (49) are the cities in Colombia with the most international connectivity.

Economic profit due to event tourism has increased since 2012.
The economic profits due to events tourism in Colombia are on the increase. In 2015, the recorded revenues corresponded to 299 million dollars, amount that increased by 12% during the last 4 years, according to ProColombia the amount in 2012 was 268 million dollars.
The efforts that ProColombia has put on promoting Colombia at an international level as a primary destination for meetings, assemblies, summits and conferences have generated that an average of 2 out of 5 events in the country have the support of the organisation.
A tourist with a meeting agenda spends five times more than a tourist on vacation, while the first one spends around 410 dollars a day, the second one spends daily around 80 dollars.

According to the records that Inmigration Colombia keeps track of, 142.990 international tourists arrived last year with an events agenda that included summits and conventions amongst others.
According to Immigration Colombia and ProColombia´s calculations, between January and June 2016, 74.994 travelers with an events agenda have entered the country.
In 2012, 129.793 foreign travelers arrived for this reason, which means a 10% increase in comparison to 2015.
June presented and increase of 29.9% in the arrival of passengers, it was the month that registered the most growth in 2015 in the events industry.

The United States and Mexico are one of the main countries sending travelers to events at Colombia, representing 25% of the arrivals in 2015.
Mexico presents the largest growth (11.9 percent), followed by the United States (3.4 percent). Markets like Panama and Guatemala have an increasing relevance of arriving passengers per event to their countries.
Cali and Barranquilla lead the charts on the growth of arriving passengers due to events with 27.5% and 9.8% respectively.
Most visited cities were: Bogotá, received 76.728 travelers, Medellín follows with 20.252 tourists, then Cali with 14.716, and Cartagena, with 12.735.
During the last 3 years, most travelers that assisted an event in Colombia were between 41 and 50 years old. In 2015, the age range changed and now the tendency are young travelers from 31 to 40 years old.

About Colombia

Colombia has been, for 8 straight years, on the top 5 Latinamerican destinations for meetings

Since the past 8 years, Colombia has escalated 7 positions on the scale of The International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), for being one of the countries that organizes high standard international meetings at a Latinamerican level; it went from hosting 45 events in 2008 to 138 in 2015.

According to the last ICCA report, Colombia stands on the 4th place on the list of Latinamerican countries that host the most international meetings, having developed a total of 138 events in 2015.

The other countries that also top the list at a Latinamerican level are Brazil, with 292 events, Mexico with 184 events and Argentina with 181 events.

According to ICAA, Bogota appears on the list as the 6th city that hosted the most events in 2015 with a total of 45 registered events at a Latinamerican level. Cartagena and Medellin follow up, each one with 36 events.

September, October and November are the main months in which events were held in Colombia.

According to the ICCA analysis, the average stay for a tourist attending the meetings in Colombia during 2015 was 3.5 days and the average daily expense was of 410.00 USD.

45% of the meetings in 2015 that were held in Colombia, discussed subjects focused on medical sciences, general sciences and education.

 

For more information contact

Bogota

Medellin

Colombia

CMW’s guide to Colombia provides you with an overview of this exciting destination especially when it comes to planning your next event.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2T9G6BSBHU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LxgPoTJ67A

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