Why Tourism in Colombia is BOOMING (Despite Negative Headlines)

[@AKJoel]

🌄 Perfect Week in Medellin (eBook): www.akjoel.com/ebook

[@Ryan-ul7dy]

The downside is that us foreigners have a bad reputation and it's only getting worse with this increase in tourism. We're blamed for rising prices and many assume we're all here for the wrong reasons.This distain towards gringos/foreigners isn't quite comparable in other countries I've been to, except Mexico. Colombians will not express it to your face at least, so the fear of facing blatant discrimination is not prevalent. Many are complaining about us behind closed doors though.

[@AKJoel]

Not much we can do about that - a few idiots are ruining it for the rest of us. All we can do is be polite, respectful and show that we're not like the bad ones. 😊

[@NicholeRojas-r8i]

You can talk with us and you'll get nice people around you!

[@Coachat]

It spiked when spirit airlines started with low cost flights to cartagena

[@CarlosMarbella-r4l]

Great video

[@andybeltran2311]

I will retire in colombia next year

[@AKJoel]

Nice! congrats :)

[@NicholeRojas-r8i]

Bienvenido!

[@jeffschueler1182]

Come on down, you’ll fall in love 🌺

[@certifiedyouss]

You need common sense in Colombia, it’s not for idiots.

[@AKJoel]

LOL exactly.

[@rahuliyer7456]

No different then being an independent traveler in Africa or in India. Come prepared with a similar mindset.

[@navigatingwithnana]

Great video AK! 💛💙♥

[@AKJoel]

Thank you!

[@reycondor8083]

Thablnks for covering subjects that other youtubers like to ignore. The civil war and armed conflict is like an enigma for foreigners

[@TomBath]

Great video brother!

[@AKJoel]

Cheers Tommy!

[@viejoditi]

Hi Ak, as a Colombian I vouch for every single word in this video. Ironic as it is, you are likely to get hate comments for telling the truth: that modern Colombia´s sucess is to be attributed to Alvaro Uribe´s government. Colombia has still a long way to go to become safer, fairer and richer but Uribe´s contribution is not to be understated. Thanks mate for putting a good word out of this beautiful country. We need many more like you. Cheers!

[@AKJoel]

Thank you!

[@carolinaospina2024]

I would add that the Peace treaty with FARC was the main reason for changing our image worldwide. Juan Manuel Santos was awarded with a Peace Nobel Prize for that (maybe not the right person to receive it) but that was a huge advertising for the country!

[@ronnieplanter6402]

Minus the gringo hatred and kidnappings 😬 Colombia truly seems like a beautiful country with mostly awesome people, i wish i moved there 10 years ago, I'm sure it will bounce back from some current issues that are keeping foreigners away

[@AKJoel]

What kidnappings?

[@ronnieplanter6402]

@@AKJoel "Last year, the number of people kidnapped soared to 287, police figures show, a figure the country hadn’t seen since 2014."

[@AKJoel]

Gotchya - thanks for that. Sorry - I thought you meant foreigners being kidnapped - which almost never happens.

[@ronnieplanter6402]

@@AKJoel I would have to take your word for it. Don't get me wrong, Colombia has come a very long way and I congratulate you guys for it, it's just a shame of the more recent trends

[@CapitanJusticia]

“Gringo hatred”? 🤡 Colombians are more discriminated in 🇺🇸 than gringos in Colombia!

[@diose0078]

Joel, thank you for this great, informative video ❤. I would like to see you in a video speaking Spanish and also salsa dancing. My best regards to you and your wife ❤

[@Medellinmatchmaker]

Great video very informative.

[@AKJoel]

Glad you enjoyed it mate

[@jupal7916]

Have you visited the triangle coffee?, I heard is also attracting real state investors and USA expats.

[@juanvaldez7633]

Though I suppose increased tourism on one level is a good thing for how much additional money and jobs it brings into the country, judging by all the push back currently going on from locals in several popular European tourist destinations, all this can be a double-edged sword. Medellín in fact is already highly congested with traffic and people living in a fairly confined space geographically, and as an expat already living here for four years I personally don't welcome a lot more people coming here - a feeling which I'm sure is shared by a lot of local paisas. Something further to be aware of is that criminal gangs here are ready and eager to exploit any vulnerabilities that present themselves (witness the infiltration of common dating sites already well in progress), and a huge tourism influx will only create further opportunities.

[@AKJoel]

All good points! Thanks for your comment 🙂

[@TwentyEightStreetMedia]

I was just there it’s not dangerous. Come to Chicago. It’s more dangerous here.

[@TheSlashSlingingSlasher]

You got to be kidding me...

[@teddeyeichler7920]

Its very expensive in poblado

[@tyromecasis7286]

Good job

[@cryptolatino9220]

Great video. One correction though...2002 not 2022 (Uribe's presidency beginning)

[@AKJoel]

Haha so much information in this video, I must have misspoken!

[@metodifitness8824]

Yes did it twice lol

[@cryptolatino9220]

@@AKJoel Not a big deal Mate, I know a video is a lot of work in production. Thank you much for such a professional research.

[@tomix3568]

I have a really hard time ascertaining whether Colombia is a safe enough place for me to move. I’m not interested in any of the seedy things that usually seem to get foreigners in trouble most frequently. But I also don’t want to be constantly looking over my shoulder expecting the worst every time I’m out of my apartment. It’s a legitimate dilemma, and I’m not sure it has an easy answer.

[@NicholeRojas-r8i]

You could spend a month in your target city and see how it goes. My recommendation for you is to talk with people around. You'll be welcomed for sure.

[@peterko8871]

When travelling there I realized you are getting watched many times. Depends on your look too. Joel's color fits really in the society, but if you are whiter skinned or you have traits which are less latin style then they'll see it :))

[@ng360English]

Sweet as, mate

[@ng360English]

🇨🇴

[@NotAllHeros]

I’m an optimist for Colombian tourism as well, however I do wonder what percentage of Medellin’s 1.5 million tourist are men, not families. Also, what would the numbers be if paisa women were just ordinary looking.

[@AKJoel]

It would be great to see the demographic of tourists, however I don't think that type of information is readily available anywhere.

[@rezaahari2207]

Very good statistics,I think Medellin,cartegna still need tourist police,to protect all tourists & good locals but capture drug ,crime friendly tourists too.mind that Germany s income from prostitution amounts to 16 billion dollars annually,because security in force 4 those activities.

[@INACIOPOP]

I'm in Colombia for the 3rd time and hardly seen a single gringo/tourist in the centre compared to last time, when I always saw groups of walking tours etc around Placa Botero etc

[@jeffschueler1182]

Good point, that’s exactly why I chose to live en el centro.

[@rickahboy91]

Got robbed badly twice, be carefull

[@TheEddieToro]

😎👍

[@Cardanoita]

Sex tourism plays a big role in that numbers

[@AKJoel]

Obviously a lot of men come for that but I don't think it's a major factor in Colombia's tourism growth. That's not my opinion either, that's just from reading into what Fico (the Medellin major) has been saying lately. He's stated in multiple interviews that "Medellin doesn't want sex tourists." If they were really bringing so much money into the economy, I don't think he'd ever speak out publicly against them.

[@NicholeRojas-r8i]

You can get that in your own country what's the damned point of people coming for that

[@good2go619]

@@AKJoel Fico is pandering to his voters. It's not a coincidence that whenever a foreigner is killed in Medellin that within a week, a foreigner pedophile is arrested. It's easier to blame the victims and influence the locals to not care about foreigners than to solve crime.

[@theeel420]

Sex tourism doesn't stop families going to Thailand. Theyd be better off having proper red light districts like Thailand. Safer.

[@joelhenry4643]

Not tourism MIGRATION!!!!

[@rlk142]

Country sucks. The are nice to you but will rip you off in a second. Does not matter

[@NicholeRojas-r8i]

Like yours

[@sebastiandiaz-yu1ir]

"some of his methods were a bit questionable" you mean the killing of civilians to make them pass as guerrilla fighters? The fact that you blatantly choose to hide this information tells me everything about the type of person you are.

[@AKJoel]

Yes you're completely right - the false positives were horrible and Uribe has a lot to answer for. The reason why I didn't explain this in detail, is not because I support his methods, but because discussing politics wasn't the purpose of this video. I merely wanted to show the correlation between his presidency and the reduction in crime. As the BBC states "At the root of this popularity is one simple fact: President Uribe made Colombia a safer place."

[@NicholeRojas-r8i]

This is not a political channel

[@CapitanJusticia]

That big spike in 2005 was thanks to the security provided by President Uribe!👏

[@AKJoel]

Exactly!

[@sebastiandiaz-yu1ir]

@@AKJoel Uribe is soon to be trialed for crimes against humanity lol