Tourism in Colombia

[2][3] Responsible tourism became a peremptory need for Colombia because it minimizes negative social, economic and environmental impacts and makes positive contributions to the conservation of natural and cultural heritage.

Fairly recently, Bogotá, the nation's capital, has become Colombia's major tourist destination because of its improved museums and entertainment facilities and its major urban renovations, including the rehabilitation of public areas, the development of parks, and the creation of an extensive network of cycling routes.

In 1510, Vasco Núñez de Balboa founded the town of Santa María la Antigua del Darién.

The Democratic Security Policy's goal is to "reestablishing control over all of the nation's territory, fighting illegal drugs and organized crime, and strengthening the justice system."

[citation needed] Along the coast and in the northern areas of the country the climate is "warm and tropical ... with a rainy season from May to November.

During the Holy Week many travel to the Caribbean Region of Colombia or visit popular landmarks like Las Lajas Cathedral, Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá, Monserrate and Guadalupe Hill the towns of Santa Cruz de Mompox, villa de Leyva, Guamal or Popayán where Roman Catholic traditions and rituals are performed, among others.

[12][13] Colombia also hosts dozens of popular music festivals throughout the year, such as Rock al Parque and Estereo Picnic.

Popular ecotourist destinations include: along the Caribbean coast, the Tayrona National Natural Park in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range and Cabo de la Vela on the tip of the Guajira Peninsula; the Nevado del Ruiz volcano, the Cocora valley and the Tatacoa Desert in the central Andean region, the Farallones de Cali National Natural Park, in the department of Valle del Cauca; Amacayacu National Park in the Amazon River basin; and the Pacific islands of Malpelo and Gorgona, there other unique landscapes like the river of the seven colors in Meta.

Colombia has two coastlines; Pacific and Caribbean, three main mountainous chains and the isolated Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, and many different ecological regions, from páramo to tropical jungle vegetation to desert biomes.

However, in recent years numbers have risen sharply, thanks to improvements in security resulting from former president and convicted paramilitar Álvaro Uribe's "democratic security" strategy, which has included significant increases in military strength and police presence throughout the country and pushed rebel groups further away from the major cities, highways and tourist sites likely to attract international visitors.

[2][16] Responsible tourism became a peremptory need for Colombia because minimizes negative social, economic and environmental impacts and makes positive contributions to the conservation of natural and cultural heritage.

Colombia has well-developed air routes and an estimated total of 984 airports, 100 of which have paved runways, plus two heliports.

Bogotá's El Dorado International Airport handles 550 million metric tons of cargo and 22 million passengers a year, making it the largest airport in Latin America in terms of cargo and the third largest in passenger numbers.

However, this problem has been alleviated somewhat by the development of one of the world's largest and highest capacity bus rapid transit (BRT) systems, known as the TransMilenio (opened 2000), and the restriction of vehicles through a daily, rotating ban on private cars depending on plate numbers.