Colombia's Increased Tourism Campaign

Come to sunny Colombia (The Economist) is the message President Alvaro Uribe sends as his "government is trying to replace conventional images of Colombia with different ones: white-sand beaches, colonial cities, jungle-clad mountains and placid coffee farms."

"Tourism officials expect 1.5m foreign visitors this year, more than 50% up from the 925,000 in 2005. Lonely Planet, a travel publisher, has chosen Colombia as one of its top ten travel hotspots for 2006, in large part because of the improvement in safety."

Carnival Cruise ships to make 27 trips to Colombia in 2007 (MarketWatch): "Cruise lines are resuming docking in the colonial port of Cartagena as Uribe's get-tough policy against guerillas and criminal violence has led to a dramatic improvement in security conditions."

In other Colombian promotional efforts, Colombia's coffee industry introduces a new Juan Valdez.

Even without the new cruise schedule, Cartagena is an extremely popular vacation destination. This summer the "Hilton Cartagena and Mattel are teaming up to bring young travelers the magic of world fashion icon with the all-new Barbie Room, the first even in Colombia. The Barbie Room at Hilton Cartagena is available from June 9 through Aug. 31, 2006. Nightly rates start at $152* including breakfast. For reservations, contact the hotel directly at reservations.cartagena@hilton.com."

Photo of Parque Tairona, one of Colombia's many national parks, thanks to Mauricio Zuluaga.