According to Ricardo Camacho, tourism secretary of San Andrés, the island is going through a tourist recovery.
Photo: San Andrés Governorate
A video that went viral on social networks, and which showed a plane with very few occupants that was destined for San Andrés, once again put on the table the discussion about the situation of tourism on the island, which has been dealing with for quite some time. to recover.
Precisely the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, through Fontur, announced a few days ago the approval of 17 tourism projects for $9.36 billion for San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina. These investments seek to improve the competitiveness, infrastructure and tourism promotion of the archipelago. Specifically in San Andrés, the projects include: beach planning, strengthening of the well-being offer, trade missions, tourist infrastructure, economic reactivation, ecotourism planning plans, participation in tourist fairs, development of cultural and creative tourism, gastronomic promotion, strengthening of the information on the tourist network and familiarization trips with business conferences.
These initiatives seek not only to increase the flow of tourists, but also to integrate local service providers, improving the tourist experience and benefiting the community of the archipelago.
In an interview with El Espectador, Ricardo Camacho, secretary of tourism of San Andrés, spoke about the situation of the sector and the approval of the proposal that would increase the arrival of flights to the island, and explained the participation of the National Government at the current time of tourism that territory.
How is the tourist situation in San Andrés?
Comparing ourselves to pre-pandemic times, we were growing in tourism, the figures show that we are 3% higher in tourists on the island compared to what we had in May 2019, and 9% compared to what we had in 2018.
Although the departure of airlines has affected us, LATAM and Avianca have helped us even though we do not have the same number of flights as before. So, we are heading towards a recovery, post-pandemic, we still have connectivity shortcomings, but we hope to strengthen them. Even more so with the arrival of the Jet Lag airline.
That is, San Andrés is not in a tourist crisis?
From my perception we are in a recovery at the tourism level in San Andrés.
Apart from connectivity, what other aspects should the island strengthen in this recovery?
We are very committed to strengthening the destination. In areas of cleanliness and order we must improve, in addition to maintaining the tourist structure, which is a pillar to be more competitive. In addition, there is a very important factor and it is promotional, to make it known that we are not just sun and beach, which although it is our plus, it is not our everything. We have culture, music, gastronomy, crafts, sports tourism, experiences with nature, all that is authentic to our island.
A few days ago a video circulated in which a passenger on board a plane stated that there were few tourists to San Andrés. Was this video born from a circumstantial situation or is it in line with the tourist situation on the island?
The figure is 78,157 tourists in May 2024, compared to the 72 thousand we had in 2018 and the 83 thousand in 2019. I would believe that this video was a circumstantial situation.
In this recovery, you have proposed incentives to airlines that visit the island, in terms of fuel prices. How close is that to being realized?
We must thank the support of the National Government and the civil aviation industry that listened to our governor’s request for the elimination of VAT on fuel for airlines visiting the island. The DIAN has already approved the proposal through a legal thesis.
What is missing for execution? how long?
I couldn’t exactly talk about a time. The governor has been very aware of the project, which has also already been discussed with different airlines in a space that was mentioned by the director of civil aeronautics. There we listen to the airlines and work hand in hand to strengthen the connectivity that we still need, we need the National Government to help us.
But has the government helped them or not?
The National Government has listened to our governor and gave us the space for the legal thesis. But we need to strengthen the connectivity of our destination.
Has the National Government failed to comply with anything?
We have asked you to help us strengthen connectivity. We hope it is something we can improve for the quality of tourism, something on which we all depend on the island.
With the National Tourism Fund, what solutions have they promoted?
With FONTUR we have been developing several tourism projects for the island, since they always listen to us. We will make them known later.
