Bogotá is Colombia’s capital and most populous city; as a melting pot for people from all over the country, it is diverse and multicultural, successfully fusing the old with the new. It has more than seven million inhabitants, making it one of the largest cities in South America.
It is located in the centre of Colombia, in the Altiplano Cundiboyacense plateau and on the savannah that bears its name; it is part of the Andean region, one of the six regions of the country. It is a green area, with 75% of its territory being rural. The climate has a lot to do with its strategic location. Being 2,600 metres above sea level and surrounded by mountains, its climate during the day is relatively, temperate with an average of 19°C.
When you visit the city, you will marvel at its architecture, as it is an amalgam of different styles, from modern buildings to the façades of old houses that are genuine colonial treasures. Thanks to this fusion of past and present, it is a destination with history that brings together the very best of Colombia with fun, gastronomy, culture, business and much more besides.
Little surprise then that in 2021 Bogotá received two awards at the World Travel Awards, for Best Business Travel Destination in South America and Best City Destination in South America, positioning it as a leading business destination and an international benchmark in tourism.
Regarding the performance of the tourism sector, Bogotá received 10,558,274 domestic tourists and 1,904,457 international tourists in 2019 and 3,567,534 and 601,322, respectively, in 2020, for a total of 4,168,856 tourists.
Tourist spending in 2019 came to USD 2,464 million, of which USD 1,523 million was from domestic tourists and USD 941 million from international tourists. In 2020, the same expenditure was USD 785 million, of which USD 505 million was domestic and USD 280 million international.
| Admission to the Smart Tourism Destinations Programme |
Bogotá joined the Smart Destinations project in 2021, and its Diagnosis Report and Action Plan were drawn up in that year ahead of its ultimate transformation into a Smart Destination. |
| Outstanding initiatives
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- Creation of the Accessible Tourism Network, which aims to consolidate the accessible offering of service providers and tourist attractions within the city. The network pursues the following lines of action:
- Providing continuous training activities and technical support in accessibility and accessible tourism.
- Providing self-diagnostic tools to be implemented at the facilities and installations.
- Promoting the productive chain.
- Promoting accessible tourism products across the region of Bogotá.
- Increasing competitiveness opportunities, according to specific needs and differentiating elements.
- Fondo Distrital de Turismo – FONDETUR: its mission is to promote sustainable human and tourism development in Bogotá and the region, through the implementation, management and administration of tourism projects and associated sectors. FONDETUR works to finance, co-finance and advise on the development of private initiatives from community groups, entrepreneurs, business owners and other groups with links to the tourism sector, thus fostering the creation of employment, equal opportunities and human development of the territory around tourism.
- District Tourism Advisory Council: it was set up in 2021 to coordinate tourism in and around Bogotá. Its objective is to serve as an advisory body to the district government on how best to grow and develop the tourism industry. The council comprises associations and unions from the tourism sector, business owners, tourism police, El Dorado Airport, Transport Terminal, the Secretariat of Economic Development, and the District Institute of Tourism, along with guests, who attend the meetings depending on the topics or business being discussed.
- District Public Policy on Tourism: In 2021, the Public Agenda phase took place as part of the wider process of drawing up the District Tourism Policy, through 36 different events involving 741 individuals, with discussions taking place under a sectoral, population and territorial perspective. Thanks to this process, it was possible to identify individual and shared perceptions of the various agents and players involved in the tourism system and to co-create, liaise and reach agreements with everyone involved in the district tourism system, including the main programmatic elements of the public tourism policy. This public policy has become the roadmap for the city’s tourism development in the medium and long term.
- District Tourist Quality System – SIDCAT: this system is part of the Smart Destination model, providing a set of tools for managing the SD and improving the quality levels of tourism services, by implementing and rewarding good practices in business management in areas such as governance, security, innovation, technology, sustainability and inclusion, considering the size and technical, financial and operational capacities of entrepreneurs, encouraging continuous improvement towards smart management and preparing them to address certification processes on standards that improve their market positioning.
- Bogotá Tourism Observatory: tasked with drawing up studies and conducting research into the city’s tourism activity, and providing data for decision-making by the agents involved in tourism https://www.idt.gov.co/es/sitbog
- Bogotá Smart Territory Policy: The High Council for ICT has been working on the Bogotá Smart Territory Policy, which aims to improve the quality of life of citizens through the efficient and strategic use of technology, data and innovation. This policy seeks to establish the strategic lines on which the district will focus it efforts in relation to technology, data and innovation through to 2030.
- Spatial Data Infrastructure (IDECA): there to facilitate the discovery, access, interoperability and reuse of geographic information, through collaborative and articulated work, thus aiding in decision-making for the benefit of the city and its inhabitants. IDECA has been built on the basis of the following five (5) components that, together, provide better handling and management of geographic information at the entities of the Capital District: community, policies and standards, data, technology and institutional strengthening.
- Circular Economy: Since early 2021, the District Institute of Tourism has been planning how the tourism sector could be actively involved in the circular economy pilots, which are testing a systemic model of resource use that focuses on the reduction, reuse and recycling of material, thus focusing on environmental protection and sustainable economic development. Under this model, a pilot project was initiated and is now being worked on with the glass museum and other companies involved, in order to generate a tourism-centric work plan that will look to treat waste in an eco-friendly way and under a circular economy approach.
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Technical data
VAT number:
No procede Address: Cra. 8 #10-65 Postal code: No procede Telephone: 0057 1 3813000 Region: Internacional Province:
Internacional Population:
Bogotá Country:
Colombia Local entity type: Ayuntamiento Date of membership:
No Miembro Red DTI Diagnosis: Sí Diagnosis date:
31/12/2021 Destination Type:
Urbano de interior Population:
7,181,469 Area (km²):
1,775.00 Density (inhab/km²):
4,045.67
Level in the Network: Nivel 4
