With an evening jam-packed with surprises, the British tourism industry celebrated #colombiainlondon campaign in style.

 

Attended by some of the travel industry’s biggest names, the evening soiree was hosted by Proexport Colombia, Colombia’s Tourism, Foreign Investment and Exports Promotions Agency – and the brains behind this London centric awareness campaign.

 

 

The event saw Enrique Stelabatti, the Vice President of Tourism for Proexport Colombia, fly into London to welcome representatives from the Colombian Embassy, Wanderlust, Dial A Flight, The Guardian, Voyages Jules Verne, The Sunday Telegraph, British Airways, Journey Latin America, The Times and Tucan Travel. The group of industry VIPs, including the Colombian Ambassador, enjoyed an evening of authentic Colombian hospitality and entertainment.

 

This celebratory event marks the success of Colombia’s 28 day awareness campaign in London so far. To date the tourism drive has incorporated a month long taker over of the National Geographic Store in London and a number of pop up events incorporating both Victoria Train Station and Harrods, with another taking place at Westfield London on Sunday 12th August. The premise behind each of the events is to showcase the warmth of the Colombian people, the richness of the country’s architecture, the awe inspiring vistas and the phenomenal cultural spectrum that Colombia has to offer the UK tourism market.

 

The evening was jam packed with surprises including a special preview of the Travel Channel’s forthcoming ‘Flavours of Colombia” series, a phenomenal Barranquilla Carnival tribute and an exclusive performance by 19-year-old Jose Hernando Arias Noguera who hit the headlines last month following his accordion performance at the BBC Proms Festival in July.

 

“The UK market is incredibly important to Colombia, last year we saw an incredible 40% increase in UK visitors, and our ‘Colombia in London’ campaign hopes to build on that. The tourism campaign has been a phenomenal success and London proved to be the perfect backdrop for us to bring a small taster of Colombia to Great Britain”, commented Enrique Stelabatti, the Vice President of Tourism for Proexport Colombia – Colombia’s Tourism, Foreign Investment and Exports Promotions Agency – and the brains behind the four week Colombian extravaganza.

 

For more information on Colombia in London visit: http://www.colombia.travel/en/natgeo-colombia