The tourist offer found in the Department is very varied, from the Tatacoa Desert and the San Agustín Archaeological Park, which are the most visited destinations, you can also go to the Guaitipán Lagoon in Pitalito or do caving in the cavern La Cumbre, located in Paicol and for lovers of adventure tourism, you can also find it, there are destinations for all tastes and you can enjoy everything from a cold climate to the warm climate of Neiva.
Likewise, to enhance this sector, the Secretariat of Economic Development and Tourism of Huila is structuring what will be the first tourist caravan, which will take place between the first and second week of June of the current year.
First Regional Tourism Meeting
In relation to this meeting, we spoke with Jhon Chavarro, coordinator of the Strategic Sectors area of the Huila Chamber of Commerce, who stated: “this is an alliance between several entities and the purpose is basically to be able to integrate all the actors in the tourism sector. “, so that they know each other and also that the general public knows about the tourist offer that the Department has to show to the world.”
The official indicates that they have different tourist attractions, hotels, viewpoints. There are offers for all tastes and budgets. “There are even places that Huilenses themselves do not know and this is the invitation for them to do so. In addition, we are going to hold some business conferences, so that they are educated and a chaining wheel, which will allow microentrepreneurs to get to know each other and, if necessary, why not, to articulate themselves.”
“We are going through a strong public order problem that is affecting us a lot and this type of strategy allows us to give peace of mind to the population in general. We are here, we are businessmen who find ourselves fighting daily and we hope that in the season from San Pedro, visit us to have the pleasure of serving you,” highlighted the official.
Likewise, the coordinator indicated that to avoid incidents of insecurity, they have the support of the Police and Army.
“Tourism is built together”
For his part, Ricardo Vera, Secretary of Economic Development and Tourism of Huila, said: “tourism is built by everyone. This economic sector, unlike the others, requires that the different actors be linked in unison, in the development of what is the tourism product, with the agencies, hence the importance of developing this event, where meetings will be held between the protagonists, business conferences, and the important thing is that we see everyone contributing to the construction of the sector.”
According to the official, Huila has two offers, nature and culture, and they are developing four sub-clusters that are located in the Tatacoa region, in the west that bears the name of Territorio Páez, in the center of the Department, they have the Magic Coffee Route, and the plans that the municipalities of San Agustín and Pitalito have been working on.
There are 2,000 tourism operators registered in the region, “of which approximately 40% are located in the north of the region, and many would not have been able to participate in the event due to other occupations, but the most important thing is that we are working in a united manner with different programs. We are advancing the entire articulation program with wholesale travel agencies that are in different parts of the country so that they can link up with ours,” highlighted the secretary.
Security and tourism in the region
And when questioned about security in Huila, this is what the official said. “There are some isolated actions that have been taking place throughout the country, the department of Huila has been one of those affected by this type of circumstances, however I think that we, within the tourism sector, have to stay on the sidelines.” “Of this series of situations that arise in terms of security, the peace negotiations that are being carried out in Colombia surely have a lot to do with it and we should not worry in that sense.”
One of the initiatives that the entity has already been working on is the creation of tourist caravans, which are intended to demonstrate to visitors that there is no problem in traveling through Huila.
“And we even spoke with actors, where I told them because there are a lot of Colombians who don’t know this region, and I invited them to get to know Suaza and the answer was that they weren’t much for going out, that’s why I want to invite them to enjoy the offer. tourism that we have,” highlighted Ricardo Vera.
As for the Tourist Caravans, which seek to visit different places in Huila, as their name indicates in a vehicular caravan. “We have to be developing the first in the month of June of the current year,” the secretary pointed out.
Sites and places to enjoy
In this sense, we spoke with several tour operators, one of them is Arbey Vanegas, who is part of the Victoria Star Astronomical Observatory: “first, the entire observatory is extremely close to the municipality of Villavieja, approximately one kilometer away. We ascend towards the top of the hill, which helps us free ourselves from light pollution and we are far from the road so that the noise does not harm us and already at the viewpoint we can see the sunset, the Desert and a part of the Cerro del Cerro Pacandé.”
Then visitors can enter the Observatory, they have good equipment to see the stars and galaxies, later they are invited to sit on a mat, where they listen to a half-hour talk. “We are the only ones who do the conversation in Spanish and English,” said the operator.
Likewise, in the municipality of Paicol, there is the Caja de Agua, and the ‘La Cumbre’ cave, and María Fernanda Perdomo, who coordinates this site, indicated: “we are located in the La Cumbre village, we have been open for approximately two years. to the public and we are in the rural part, what we do there is caving, where adventures are lived in contact with nature. There is a tour that lasts an hour and a half, they already have a cabin to accommodate visitors, they can go hiking and visit the ‘Moyas de San Juan and we ask that they improve the access road.’
Another novelty that tourists can find is the Tubo Hotel, located in the municipality of Villavieja, and Ambar Quintana, coordinator of the place, indicated. “It is a totally different concept, they are tube-shaped rooms, which have air conditioning and a bed for two people, where we offer the bar, pool and parking service that has a cost that starts at $145,000 per night per couple.”
Finally, you can also visit the Guaitipán Lagoon, located in the municipality of Pitalito, and Jaime Parra, in charge of marketing for this place, said: “it is a Theme Park focused on myths and legends. “And it is a place designed to recharge your energy and enjoy the best flavors of the region, we have a bird forest, we have 94 species, a mythological forest with more than twelve sculptures, including that of Cacica Gaitana.”
The entrance fee is $250,000 per couple, which includes a VIP passport to the entire park and a bonfire where mythological stories are told.
