The Greater Bogota Convention Bureau becomes a new business unit at Invest in Bogota to consolidate the promotion and positioning of Bogota and its region as a touristic destination and as a city for international events.

With public and private support, through this new business unit, the strategy for the promotion and positioning of Bogota as a worldwide destination for international events will be strengthened. This will keep supporting the economic reactivation and will result in more business opportunities for the industry.

Invest in Bogota (IIB) announces the creation of its new business unit to attract events in the city. This decision was taken after the dissolution of the Greater Bogota Convention Bureau (GBCB) and represents for the capital and the region the possibility of strengthening the investment and events attraction strategy in a single entity.

This unit will be called the Bogota Convention Bureau and will start its operation in November of this year, achieving a transition process that favors the continuity of the activities that this entity has been developing since its creation.

The decision of creating this new business unit had as reference ProColombia’s figure, which integrates the promotion for international tourism, the foreign investment, and the non-traditional exports in Colombia in one entity. As an international reference we had Invest in Dubai, and nationally ProBarranquilla and Invest in Santa Marta.

“The integration of the Bureau to IIB will allow the city to have a much more cohesive strategy of to position itself as a business city, by having the investment promotion, entrepreneurship, and events in one entity”, highlighted, Mauricio Romero, the Acting Executive Director of IIB, who added that the capital has a great opportunity to consolidate itself as the most important business destination in Latin America, especially in the current scenario of international economic recovery.

Likewise, Juan Carlos González, Vice President of Competitiveness of the Bogota Chamber of Commerce (CCB), stated: “on behalf of the CCB and its Cluster of Business Tourism and Events initiative we will continue supporting the articulation of the meetings industry’s stakeholders under this new scheme, and encouraging the events attraction strategy for the city and it’s region.”

The new scheme also contemplates the creation of a Sectorial Committee in IIB in articulation with the Business Tourism and Events Cluster of the CCB, which will function as a consultative space for entrepreneurs in the meetings industry.

Meanwhile, the Bogota Tourism Office (IDT) Director, Karol Fajardo Mariño commented: “the Convention Bureau’s work through so many years will be strengthened with the administration at Invest in Bogota, allowing to continue with the public-private efforts to attract events and meetings in the city, and complement the consolidation of the Colombian capital’s offer and promotion as a M.I.C.E. destination, which is what we do at IDT.”

The resources, sustainability, and mission of the new business unit within IIB will have the CCB’s and the District’s support, as main partners of IIB. This will also strengthen the roles of each entity (IIB, CCB, and IDT) in a complementary and coordinated way.

Camila Delgadillo, Sales and Marketing Manager of GBCB, said: “we reaffirm that the Bureau does not stop, and we will give continuity to the promotion and international positioning of Bogota through the events attraction, contributing this way, to the city’s greater promotion agency: Invest in Bogota.”

The strategy represents an opportunity to boost the city’s events attraction, it’s international positioning and, therefore, the increasing of business opportunities for the meetings and events industry.