Paul Colston visits Colombia’s capital and finds a new meetings blend bubbling up nicely:
In 2021, the Bogota Convention Bureau was reconstituted as a specialist business unit within the agency Invest in Bogota. I met the CVB’s manager Paola Piza, who explained the bureau had been given a clear remit to attract high impact international events for Bogota Region and to lead on an international events bidding strategy.
“The CVB, which represents the interests of both the private and public sectors, is working hard,” she says, “to contribute to positioning Bogota as a premier destination for meetings and events.
Meeting planners can turn to the bureau for help with services, including:
• Assistance in developing bidding strategies and bid documents
• Obtaining quotations from local providers
• Facilitating connections with key public and private stakeholders in the region
• Organising site inspections in Bogota
• Identifying suitable venues and accommodation
• Supplying promotional materials.
Piza noted that Bogota is a dynamic city rapidly transforming into a hub of science, technology, and innovation and with a robust ecosystem of professional suppliers to the sector. The city is ranked fourth in Latin America in terms of the number of association meetings, face-to-face and hybrid formats, with a total of 33 qualifying meetings held during 2022, according to the ICCA ranking report for cities. Only Buenos Aires, Lima, and Santiago de Chile rank ahead in the region.
Piza said that Greater Bogota CVB, in 2023, had secured 30 new pieces of conference business to be held up until 2026, with an estimated 162,000 attendees, an economic impact of US$11.2m and covering 38,500 room nights.
Regional gateway and knowledge centre
Colombia’s capital has become one of the main epicentres of the meetings industry in Latin America due to its infrastructure for hosting a variety of Investing in Bogota’s meetings future event formats, and the business environment and the fact that the city is a centre of knowledge in the region.
Bogota’s skilled workforce is supported by 120 universities, fueling its status as a knowledge hub. The city is a market of 11 million people.
Bogota is a key gateway to South America with excellent global connectivity. There are ten-hour flights to Europe, direct to London and to Madrid, while El Dorado International Airport offers 90 direct routes, half of which are international, and ranks second in passenger movement (40 million passengers in 2023) on the continent.
Bogota boasts a raft of world-class venues for meetings and events and the largest capacity in the country thanks to the Agora Convention Center, Hilton Bogota Corferias Hotel and Corferias (Exhibition Center), a complex with 165,000sqm and 68 meeting rooms.
There are also 2,000 hotel rooms within a radius of less than six kilometres from the complex, while the city offers 24,990 rooms, in total including many international hotel brands.
The city offers over 150 flexible and modular venue spaces, according to Piza, with capacities ranging up to 4,500 people. Added to this are the numerous unique venues such as museums, libraries, parks and arenas which also host many cultural events.
Bogota contributes nearly a quarter (24.4%) of Colombia’s GDP and the authorities plan, by 2026, to establish a Science, Technology, and Innovation District, further solidifying the city’s global commercial role.
The economy of Bogota Region is larger than some Latin-American countries, including Costa Rica, Panama, and Uruguay.
Incentive travel & attractions
Bogota lends itself to incentive travel with its offer of a vibrant mix of culture and natural beauty.
The city’s nightlife buzzes with energy, while the shopping scene offers an array of unique finds from jewelry and leather to textiles.
My own jewel in the tourism crown was a visit to The Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá, around 42km north of Bogota, The temple at the bottom of the mine has three sections, representing the birth, life, and death of Jesus. The icons, ornaments and architectural details are hand carved in the halite rock. Spectacular, although I was grateful for the mine’s train that brought me back to the surface!
Another village outside Bogota worth a visit is Guatavita, where, according to legend, the Muisca Raft crossed the waters where El Dorado began.
The city also boasts well over 5,000 attractions including metropolitan parks, the Botanical Garden, and diverse wetlands, highlighting Bogota’s unique ecosystems and outdoor appeal.
The historic heart of Bogota, La Candelaria, presents 482 years of colonial history, while museums like the Gold and National Museums explore the indigenous culture and heritage. The city’s vibrant street art and marketplaces are worth visiting where you can try traditional dishes like Ajiaco and coffee.
For a spectacular overview go to Monserrate, and take in the panoramic city views and visit the shrine dating from 1640.
Meet and make a difference
Your event can deliver legacy in Bogota, in places such as Ciudad Bolivar, a community that supports social reconstruction. The CVB can be a useful liaison point for this and can recommend art workshops and team recycling projects designed to foster environmental awareness, teamwork and creativity.
“We are working closely with international organisers to develop specific programmes aimed at supporting vulnerable people and addressing sustainability and community empowerment through educational opportunities related to event themes, youth employment programmes,” says Piza.
Strategic Plans 2024
The CVB is also using data analytics, AI, and digital platforms to facilitate the generation of new business opportunities through commercial intelligence.
Bogota has smart infrastructure and is proud of its advances in transport and mobility, telecommunications, and renewable energies. This focus underscores the city’s capacity to support large-scale events with its sustainable infrastructure.
Asked about the main challenges the bureau is faced with, and Piza flags up “an ongong perception of insecurity around the destination, as well as the idea that Bogota can be very hectic at times with its traffic”.
The city is also located in the interior of the country with no coast or beaches and that can sometimes be a minus.
But, on a positive, the bureau tells me it detects an upswing in the revival of the meetings sector, which has achieved 85% of the pre-pandemic levels with a full 100% recovery predicted by the end of 2024.
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ID Lab Forum (2023)
One programme the Greater Bogota CVB worked on with organisers in recent times, was the BID Lab Forum (2023) in June, a leading event on innovation and inclusion in Latin America, which it won from fierce competition from Mexico City and Sao Paulo.
A site inspection by the organisers resulted in the bid being won by local operator Sphera and the Hilton Bogota Corferias hotel. The CVB then stepped in to provide ongoing support to the event.
Bogota’s position as an outstanding hub for innovation and high-impact entrepreneurship in the region were key factors in winning the bid for an event that was attended by 700 participants from 37 countries.
