Tourism between Venezuela and Colombia increased by 46%

Tourist flow between Venezuela and Colombia grew 46% in 2 years, According to official figures shared on Thursday by Nicolás Maduro, who called on Venezuelan businessmen to invest in this sector in the neighboring country.

In a bilateral meeting, the head of state, who did not specify the period of this growth, pointed out that there are more tourists going to Venezuela from Colombia than vice versa, which is why he believes that Venezuelan businessmen “should go to invest” in the neighboring nation, in order to also boost the tourist flow in the opposite direction.

During the event, broadcast by state channel VTV, he said that there has been an increase in Colombian investments in Venezuela in tourist areas such as hospitality, while airlines “are earning a lot because flights are increasing.”

According to the Ministry of Tourism, more than 250 Venezuelan and 105 Colombian businessmen are participating in this bilateral activity, which will end next Saturday, and it is expected that “many business meetings” will be held with the aim of strengthening the relationship in this sector and promoting its “growth and development.”

For his part, Maduro said he hopes that these negotiations will lead to the signing of agreements and then the approval of “dozens of new” tourism projects.

Both neighboring countries resumed their diplomatic relations, broken in 2019, after the President Gustavo Petro came to power in Colombia, in August 2022, a process that advanced with the reopening of the border and the reactivation of the air connection.

Since then, there have been meetings between Petro and his Venezuelan counterpart, as well as between officials of the respective governments, and numerous cooperation agreements have been signed, with special emphasis on the reactivation of bilateral trade and on projects related to the economy.