Statistics – touristic development in Colombia

Today we want to present you some coldhard facts about the development of the tourism industry in Colombia. Since a few years we can see a small boom of the international tourism in this country. Sure, you cannot compare the data with big touristic destinations like Peru or Cuba, which receive much more tourists, but the tourism in Colombia is getting more and more important for the economic situation of the country every year. The numbers of foreign visitors of Colombia have been increasing every year over the past decade.

Here we go with some of the most important facts:

- Colombia counted in the year 2015 a total of 4.45 Million international arrivals. About 2.29 Million of them  were foreign visitors to Colombia (visitors who are not residents)
- In comparison to the year 2015, Colombia received in 2014 a total of 4.19 Million arrivals 1.97 Million people were foreign visitors who are not residents in Colombia
- Growth rate (comparing 2014 and 2015) of arrivals from foreign visitors who are not residents in Colombia: 16%.

The following numbers refer to the 2.29 Million arrivals of foreign visitors in 2015 who are not residents in Colombia:

- Most arrivals in 2015 listed by countries: USA (1), Venezuela (2), Brazil (3), Argentina (4) and Ecuador (5). Followed by: Mexico (5), Peru (6), Chile (7), Spain (8), Panama (9), Germany (10), Canada (11), France (12), Great Britain (13), The Netherlands (14), Italy (15), Costa Rica (16), El Salvador (17), Guatemala (18) und Swiss (19). 

- From the Americas 79,5% of the arrivals were counted (1.8 of 2.29 Million)

- From Europe 18% (400.000 of 2.29 Million)
- The small remainder are arrivals from Asia (1,8%), Oceania (0,7%), Africa (0,2%) and the Middle East (0,1%).

We took this data from ProColombia's "Informe Tourismo extranjero en Colombia". There is no official data about arrivals from tourists who booked an organized roundtrip through Colombia. We estimate this number to be a rather small part of the 2.29 Million. The bigger part are likely to be backpackers and business travellers.