At AdventureNEXT Latin America – Bogota 2023, tourism leaders from across the continent sought strategies to promote tourism as an instrument of peace. They held three annual meetings which focused on promoting resilient and sustainable tourism practices in the region.
The first of these meetings was led by Gabriella Stowell (Vice President, Regional Development, ATTA) and featured prominent public sector leaders from Latin America. Representatives from Colombia (Arturo Bravo – Vice Minister of Tourism; Andres Clavijo Rangel – IDT Director; Ricardo Agudelo Sedano – Rap-e Manager), Panama (Ivan Eskildsen – Minister of Tourism), Chile (Cristóbal Benítez – Sernatur National Director), Ecuador (Diego Andrade – Undersecretary of Promotion), and Brazil (Bruno Wendling – President Director of the Mato Grosso do Sul Tourism Foundation) exchanged ideas and visions on the central theme of the event and offered a strategic vision for tourism development in the region.
Additionally, the declaration signed during the previous AdventureNEXT event held in Panama, aimed at a more transformative future for tourism in the region, was addressed. At the end of the meeting, four individuals joined this commitment, representing an important step towards collaboration: Cristóbal Benítez, Arturo Bravo, Andrés Clavijo Rangel, and Ricardo Agudelo Sedano.
The second meeting brought together associations of tourism companies from Latin America with the goal of establishing close relationships and discussing ideas, challenges, and proposals for the future of the region. Participants in this edition included Sharon Conceição, leader of Communities for Latin America and the Caribbean, Laura Durana from ACOTUR Colombia, Martin Romero from APTAE Peru, Alejo Heymo and Viviana Vasquez from AMTAVE and La Mano del Mono Mexico, Jorge Perez from Tierra del Volcan Ecuador, and Raffaele Di Biase, Cristian Levy, and Gonzalo Fuenzalida representing new adventure tourism clusters in Chile.
Leaders made great progress in two priority areas during the meeting: establishing accessible technical training for all associations and defining protocols and measurements for tourism impact adapted to the Latin American context. As a result, working groups were created to collect resources and develop concrete solutions. These groups will foster collaboration and joint action among tourism associations, further strengthening the adventure tourism industry in the region.
As part of the Tourism Board Workshop, 23 representatives from tourism boards and associations of Latin American countries, including Colombia, Chile, Brazil, and Costa Rica, came together to exchange ideas on how tourism can promote peace in destinations, focusing on segments committed to community, sustainability, and conservation. Proposed action items included aligning the Ministry of Tourism with Tourism Promotion Agencies, including community perspectives in tourism planning, and identifying areas that can quickly benefit from peace initiatives. Participants expressed their desire for more similar workshops in the future and considered the session to be a rewarding, enriching, inspiring, and collaborative experience.
With its commitment to promoting resilient and sustainable tourism practices, the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA) has played a crucial role as a mediator, facilitating discussions and the exchange of ideas among public sector leaders, tourism company associations, and tourism boards within the adventure travel community.
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