By extending tax exemptions for those who build hotel projects in Colombia, the country expects to open 20,000 new rooms before 2014, said the president of that country, Juan Manuel Santos, within the framework of the event "Tourism Competes 2011", in which the Secretary General of the World Tourism Organization also participated. Taleb Rifai.
Santos assured that the new rooms for 2014 will be in the categories of four and five stars and that their construction will go hand in hand with state projects for the promotion of tourism and the modernization of the country's infrastructure, so that good occupancy levels are maintained in the new ventures.
The tax exemption project came into effect in 2003 and since then 14,000 rooms have been built: "In 2011 alone, 2,200 rooms have been built in the country, with investments of $2.2 billion (US$1.2 million)," the president said.
Santos also stressed that so far this year the average occupancy of hotels with more than 150 rooms has been at 58%, while the real income of establishments until July had grown 6% compared to 2010 records.
The most recent project undertaken in Colombia and benefiting from the tax exemption is the construction of a hotel with 230 rooms and a new convention center on the island of San Andrés, one of the most outstanding destinations in the country that, in addition, is located on the Caribbean Sea.
