France Endorses Colombia for Safe Travel

According to Dinero.com, France has upgraded its advice for travelers to Colombia. The article (original in Spanish), translated by Google is as follows:

France improved, for Colombia, the warning that makes its citizens traveling to different places in the world, better known as the "travel warning", adding to Santa Marta, Barranquilla, the area between Bogota, Tunja, and Bucaramanga, and the three provinces of the Coffee Region: Quindio, Risaralda and Caldas, to the list of cities in which it has not set restrictions.

The places listed are in addition to Cartagena and San Andres, which already appeared in that category, said the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism Luis Guillermo Plata, upon thanking France "for translating, into action, the progress that has been the country's security.

At the second level, ie, those which it is recommended to visit with proper precautions, is preserved: Cundiboyacense region, with its departments and capital, Bucaramanga, Pasto, Leticia, Medellin, Cali and Popayan. On this last point, the Minister said that these places also provide security to tourists, saying "we will persist to pass the green rating in response to their reality."

The Minister Emphasized the improvement in the travel warning that, since 2008, has been playing Colombia, a result, he said, "a judicious job of security, and which undoubtedly the new image influences you in the world today, the country".

"Do not forget that until two years ago, most of the map of Colombia appear in red on the warnings for French travelers." Significantly Today things have changed and we are confident that this is a continuous process of improvement, "said Silver.

For his part, Deputy Minister of Tourism, Oscar Rueda Garcia, spoke about the impact that these events have on tourism, it said, many travelers have very present these issues before making any travel decisions. After Spain, France ranks second in number of passengers arriving in Colombia from Europe, with 2.2% of the total. Between January and November 2009, over 27,000 French visited Colombia, a 7.3% increase over the same period in 2008.