More Tourists Travel in Escorted Caravans in Colombia

The number of people that zipped down Colombia’s main roads aboard vehicles escorted by law enforcement offices rose a whopping 140 percent, jumping from 33.5 million trippers in 2002 to 80.4 million in 2003.

The Colombia Lives Ground Caravan Program –closely watched by police officers and military personnel- has transported 193 million trekkers all across Colombia for the past two years.

One of the positive fallouts has been a spiking hotel occupancy in those regions where most tourists have headed for. According to the Colombia Hotel Association, that index ramped up from 49.2 percent on June 2003 to 54.1 percent in the same month of 2004.

The project commenced on October 12, 2002 under the sponsorship of the Colombian Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism in an effort to make the downtrodden local travel sector snap out of rampant crime, violence, massive kidnappings and highway heists in the country.