Positive balance for the Colombian hotel industry in July

According to Cotelco, the hotel industry continues to grow in Colombia. The occupation in July was 56.85%. The figure translates into an increase of 2.8 percentage points with respect to July 2017. In the course of 2018 (January to July), the hotel industry in the country accumulates a growth of 0.42 percentage points in the percentage of occupancy and 0.38% in revenue real.
For Gustavo Adolfo Toro Velásquez, Cotelco's national executive president, "the indicators of the hotel sector showed an important recovery in the month of July, explained by two factors. In the first place, the end of the electoral period that allowed to boost the corporate segment, especially in the realization of events. Second, the growth in the arrival of non-resident foreigners, which are the result of the country's image change abroad and the promotion efforts of entities such as ProColombia and the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism. "
At the departmental level, Atlántico reported an increase of 19.6 percentage points explained by the development of the Central American and Caribbean Games, with an average occupancy consolidated of 66.08% at the end of July. On the other hand, Caldas also registered a growth of 8.7 percentage points, associated with the development of different events, among others, the mountain race of the Legend of the Golden 2018 and the Mountain Festival.
San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina maintain their upward trend in 2018 and consolidate their recovery at the end of the first semester, with an increase of 9.47 percentage points in employment. In the same way Cartagena de Indias, Valle del Cauca and Bogota increased 5.41, 3.43 and 1.22 percentage points respectively.
Other destinations with favorable performance in the month of July were Norte de Santander (+7.35 pp), Nariño (+5.45 pp), Risaralda (+5.27 pp), Casanare (+4.02 pp), Huila (+3.52 pp), Boyacá ( +2.65 pp), Magdalena (+0.78 pp) and Tolima and Alto Magdalena (+0.67 pp).
However, the department of Meta presented a decrease of 3.08 percentage points, partly due to the different inconveniences presented in the access roads to the department as a result of winter. Similarly, Quindío accumulates a fall of 10.41 percentage points in occupancy, mainly due to the seasonality of tourism in the department.
Antioquia (-1.12 p.p.), Barrancabermeja (-4.31 p.p.), Cesar (-1.53 ​​p.p.) and Santander (-4.42 p.p.) correspond to other Cotelco chapters that reported a decrease in their hotel indicators for the month of July 2018.
Despite the impacts derived from the operational problems of Avianca, which have generated inconveniences in air connectivity in several regions of the country, Cotelco maintains its positive outlook for the growth of the lodging and lodging sector in 2018, with an estimate of 55.5 % of occupation for the closing of the year.