C

[Marcela Colombia Travel Blog]

For a full version go to http://colombia-travel-marcela.blogspot.com/

As I commented in my last Colombia Travel Blog entry, besides
Colombia’s Pro Export and its very successful “The only risk is
wanting to stay” campaign, there’s a lot of people out there working
to improve Colombia’s image and helping turning it into the new
touristic destination in Latin America. Last week I had the chance to
have a chat with Camilo Gomez, Mantaraya Travel’s CEO and I want to
share his very interesting points of view with you. Camilo is one of
the pioneers in the online Colombia travel business and his story is
one of entrepreneurship, faith in our country and determination.
Camilo’s family comes from San Gil, north to Bogota and close to
Bucaramanga and there was where his relation with tourism began:
his father Javier was one of the founder of “Rios y Canoas”, one of
the first Rafting and Adventure Travel Companies in Colombia. As the
other business partners were Costa Ricans, it just felt natural to
start selling their services in that country as at that point in time,
it was probably even more difficult to convince Colombians to travel
to that area than to do so with foreigners, and that’s how, against
all odds the business started. Imagine the merit! Remember this was
back when huge parts of the country were controlled by narcs and
terrorists. See my post on safety in Colombia to see how tough it
was.

During that time, Camilo trained in Costa Rica and the Colorado canyon
to be a professional Rafter, unfortunately due to the still unsecure
situation his business had to end operations. He persisted and a new
company was opened in Tobia - closer to Bogota – this time focused
almost entirely in the local market, but it had to be closed in 2003
for the same reasons.
But as every visionary does, Camilo didn’t give up. Perhaps foreseeing
that times were starting to change in Colombia, he decided to start
saving money in order to wait for the right moment and strategy.
Having a Business Degree, he started working for Citi Bank while
slowly but steadily building what now we know as Mantaraya Travel.
In 2005 he applied and won a founding by SENA (a government body
that promotes education and entrepreneurship projects), and in 2008,
at age 25 years he finally quit his “traditional job” and started
dedicating 100% of his time to Mantaraya. In only 2 years of
“official“ operations, Mantaraya has grown even faster than the
already impressive foreign incoming Tourism yearly rate in Colombia,
and has had a lot of support from Pro export which lead to Camilo
traveling to many of the International travel fairs. Even more, later
this year they’ll be feature in two international cable channels.

Mantaraya has loads of information available. You can plan your trip,
research about destinations and make a reservation, the concept is
that people visiting the website have enough information about
Colombia in order to have a glimpse of what to do in the country
either if they just have a rough idea of what they want or to redefine
and confirm were they want to go if they’re in a more advanced stage
of their trip plans. Visitors have the option, in virtually every
section of the site, to send Mantaraya’s native English speakers sales
staff a detailed form describing what their needs are. With this
information and the expertise of their Colombia travel experts who
fine tune the itineraries until they fit what the passenger wants,
Mantaraya is able to put together all kind of tailor made tours.
This philosophy, based in the idea that every passenger has unique
needs, is the key factor of what makes the company so successful.

At least half of their passengers come from the U.S and Canada while
the other half is a mix of Latin American and European, in most cases
seasoned travelers who are costumed to travel abroad with the
assistance of travel companies and therefore expect an international
standard service and to be able to be one phone call away from their
travel advisor both to feel that they’re properly being looked after
and to change anything if the case merits it. Reaching such required
quality service in a country like Colombia, which is just starting to
open its eyes to the opportunities that international incoming tourism
offers, has been a tough job that involves constant training to their
providers into understanding that concepts like punctuality and
efficiency are vital for their operations.

Unsurprisingly the best selling destinations are the typical ones and
therefore the “safer” ones: The Caribbean, Cartagena and Bogota, but
Camilo says that the Amazon and the Coffee Triangle are the next
raising stars, specially for visitors from North America while
Europeans prefer the Pacific Coast destinations.

When I ask his opinion on the current image that Colombia has and how
safe is it perceived to be, I realize that Camilo’s position is very
similar to mine: he points out that Colombia was immersed in an
internal war for 50 years and the situation has been gradually
changing only since around eight years ago, when the first tourists
began to come sporadically, and although the country is much safer
now, there are things and situations that –as in any other country –
one should avoid, Mantaraya promotes the development of alternative
destinations, but only sells tours in places that are 100% considered
safe for travelers.

In the years they’ve been operating, Mantaraya has had no incident
involving safety matters at all; on the contrary in some of the most
“exotic” destinations, people are starting to realize the positive
impact of having foreigner tourists visiting them and are becoming
very interested in learning about hospitality. Some of the very local
and picturesque restaurants in Tayrona, for instance, have organized
themselves to improve security in their area.
Camilo is also aware of the fact that, if not done responsibly, the
tourism industry could alter not only the eco system but also the
ancient costumes of many of the inhabitants of Colombia’s most ancient
cultures. For instance when the Koguis (the local tribe from La Sierra
Nevada de Santa Marta) are in their yearly time of pray, Mantarraya
does not sell the 5 day trek to Tayrona’s Lost city.

Colombia is a complex country to visit, you can go to the Andes, the
Caribbean beaches and the Amazon Jungle to name a few and it’s as well
giving its baby steps into being and international travel destination,
that’s why it’s so important to have a local company that knows the
country complemented by foreign English speaking travel advisors
living in Colombia.
Camilo sees the Colombia Travel industry with optimism; we are already
seeing how very big hotel chains are making huge investments in the
country, a clear signal that shows a market about to blossom. As
pioneers, Mantaraya has now another responsibility: to develop new
products, especially in the area of adventure and nature themed tours
in order to keep the pole position they have now towards competitors.
“Colombia is going to be a leader in nature destinations in Latin
America”, Camilo says, “Just behind Brazil and Mexico” …. and I truly
believe that’s absolutely true.

You can visit Mantaraya’s website at: www.mantarayacom