Easter leaves balances better than expected for economic reactivation national, achieving almost a 70% in sales related to tourism during this period of 2022, compared to the same period in 2019, as explained by the Colombian Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies (Anato).
(On Vacation announced commercial reopening of five hotels in Panama).
Among the key aspects is the mobilization of 979,923 passengers on domestic flights, as indicated by the Civil Aeronautics, which would be a growth of 34% compared to pre-pandemic levels, Anato said.
At the national level, the most visited destinations were Bogotá, Medellín, Santa Marta, Capurganá, Coffee Region, San Andrés, Cartagena, La Guajira, Santander, Amazonas and Huila.
(There is still time for a getaway: destinations that may interest you).
And, in international departures, the destinations with the highest demand were the United States, Spain, Mexico, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
In total, according to the Ministry of Commerce, there were 1,520,000 air transport users, so the turnover figure reported by the airlines rose by 375% compared to 2021, while it also grew 124% for travel agencies and more than 100% in restaurants, according to Redeban data collected during the conclusive week of holidays.
HOTEL OCCUPANCY
It is worth remembering that the Holy Week had been one of the seasons most affected in terms of tourism by the covid-19 pandemic, going from 51.88% in 2019 to 1.78% in 2020, with a recovery in 2021, which raised the figure to 38.88%, but was still below pre-pandemic levels two years ago.
Therefore, in March, within the framework of the 68th edition of the Annual Assembly of Affiliates of the Hotel and Tourism Association of Colombia (Cotelco), José Andrés Duarte, the national executive president, pointed out that “the sector stopped billing , between March 2020 and June 2021, about $1.2 trillion.”
However, as Redeban explained, for this 2022, hotels reported an increase in their turnover compared to 2021 of more than 80%.
Being Barranquilla the city that presented the highest growth in billing, with an increase of 56% compared to the previous year.
DESTINATIONS THAT TURNED THE MOST
14 million electronic transactions were registered in just seven days of Holy Week (between April 10 and 17), which amounted to a billing of more than $1.6 billion according to Redeban, thus exceeding the $1.2 billion in billing that was obtained in 2021.
Cartagena and Santa Marta In addition to being among the preferred destinations to visit during Easter, they were also the ones that contributed the most to the economic reactivation.
Since, Cartagena exceeded $77 billion in billing, and Santa Marta almost $33 billion, increasing the figure by 53% and 131%, respectively, when comparing the economic movements in both cities during the same period the previous year.
In addition, Redeban added that on average the transactions made by tourists reached $121,000, which mostly corresponded to credit card payments with more than 52%, and 48% were made with a debit card.
LEYDI PERDOMO – ET SCHOOL
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