The Colombian Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies (ANATO) is the organizer of this event that since 1982 has been consolidated as the most important tourism in the country; in its previous edition it registered the entry of more than 27 thousand participants. The event brings together professionals, businessmen and representatives of the tourism sector.
This year, accompanying the Ministry of Tourism, the Municipalities of Maldonado and Montevideo and the private operator Cynsa were present.
On the opening day there was a visit to the Uruguayan stand by the consul Silvana Balaguer, the counselor minister Lourdes Boné of the Uruguayan Embassy in Colombia, and the president of the Colombian Chamber of Diversity, Felipe Cárdenas.
The person in charge of ICTs, Martín Lameiro, participated on behalf of the Ministry of Tourism, who received companies interested in contacting private operators in our country.
Organizers of other tourist fairs also approached, seeking to include our country in their annual fairs.
Destined Maldonado
The Deputy Director of Tourism Melina Bentancur and the official Viviana Rojas, are present for the Municipality of Maldonado, who held a significant number of meetings with various professionals and businessmen in the sector in order to promote tourism activities throughout the department, emphasizing in the strong offer of the wine tourism product that characterizes them and that is of great interest to the Colombian market.
Destination Montevideo
The main objective of Montevideo's participation in ANATO is to disseminate the city's tourist offer to the world. It should be noted that according to the Montevideo Tourist Observatory, as of February 23, Avianca plans 15,000 seats for the first half of the year on direct flights to Montevideo, while for the same period Copa has 87,000 seats from the Caribbean and Central America. In this sense, it is essential that Montevideo is present at ANATO to promote the attractions of the destination in the region.
Likewise, in 2022 it was incorporated into the Network of Latin American Urban Destinations, an area of regional cooperation to promote tourism development, so this year's participation also meant an opportunity to strengthen ties with the most important capitals of the continent.
On the other hand, the Director of Tourism, Fernando Amado met with the tourism authorities of Bogotá and Medellín, cities that have been recognized by Segittur as a Smart Tourist Destination. It is essential to know their experience and learning to take them into consideration in the work process that Montevideo began to consolidate itself as a smart destination.