Colombia Launches Official Travel Blogger Program

This morning in Bogota, a new official blogger program for Colombia is being announced. And I’m excited to be a part of it.

Lead by Proexport, the organization responsible for promoting tourism in Colombia, the program unites 30 expat travel bloggers with a proven passion for sharing the best the country has to offer.

The names of the participating bloggers can now be seen on the Colombia travel portal, however their biographical, blog, and social media has yet to be added.

It’s a true multinational effort, with English, Spanish, German, French and Portuguese bloggers set to contribute.

Each month, the bloggers are responsible for submitting two articles to be shared on Colombia’s travel site. These articles can either be new material, or stories previously published elsewhere.

In return, the bloggers are promoted through the official Colombia tourism site and social media accounts. There will also be potential extras provided to the official bloggers, such as special event invites and/or organized trips to different parts of the country.

I believe Colombia’s investment in fostering a unified expat blogging community holds a lot of promise, and again, I’m super excited to be one of the first bloggers to participate.

This program is very much in beta mode, meaning there will be kinks to work out along the way with regard to how we all work together.  It’s new territory for everyone involved, but I’m confident the resulting synergies will present themselves very quickly.

Colombia will be promoting expat bloggers, and expat bloggers will be promoting Colombia. It’s a recipe for success, and I wouldn’t be surprised if other Latin American countries follow Colombia’s lead in the years to come.

After all, if there’s a country with an uphill battle to remake its global image, it’s Colombia.

And I for one, enjoy a challenge.