What Advisors are Saying about Travel to Colombia Right Now

No destination is completely insulated or impervious to sentiment, whether real or perceived.

That was what emerged from the reactions of various luxury travel advisors who attended the second edition of Épica Travel Show in March, where conversations about Colombia and the region at-large were shaped as much by what is happening beyond its borders as by what is unfolding within them.

In the weeks leading up to the event, advisors were navigating a steady churn of disruptions tied to geopolitical instability from the Middle East to Venezuela: cancellations, rebookings, postponements, and even evacuations.

Perhaps more than many industries, travel is extremely interconnected and when one region endures geopolitical strife, others immediately feel the ripple effects.

Some attendees arrived later than planned, taking alternative flights across continents while juggling active client issues.

Abhishek Ravishankar’s journey was perhaps the most extreme, as he’s based in India. After a canceled Emirates flight because of the conflict in Iran, he rerouted through Thailand, South Korea, Los Angeles, and Miami before finally reaching Colombia.

“Five flights and three days,” he said, almost matter-of-factly, but still with a smile on his face. “Not an easy journey, but I wanted to be here.”

That willingness to show up, despite the friction, is indicative of the interest and intrigue surrounding Colombia, “a destination that I should not call ‘emerging’ anymore. I think it is its own standalone destination,” remarked Raj Sanghrajka, president of Alluring Americas.

This echoed the thoughts of advisors who are actively searching for destinations that feel more distinct from well-established circuits such as those in Europe or Asia.

For Ravishankar, whose clients have already seen and experienced those regions, South America represents both a commercial opportunity and a point of differentiation.

“We’re trying to create unique packages, something a little different,” he explained. “This whole South American market is very new for us, and I have very high hopes.”

Newness, in this context, is both an asset and a constraint. It allows advisors to position Colombia as something fresh, but it also requires education that more established destinations don’t.

Costa Rica-based Kathleen Hall, the American co-owner of Explore the Americas, sees that responsibility as central to her role.

“My job is to inform my clients that Colombia is a destination that should not be missed,” she said with conviction. (As an adopted child, Hall identifies with the region and its people as her chosen home.)

“My life’s purpose is bringing people to Latin America,” she added, describing Épica as a rare industry event and a moment with others who share that perspective.

Yet conviction alone does not address lingering hesitation around the destination – or its history. The question of safety, while often overstated, continues to surface in client conversations.

“‘Is it safe there?’ is still a big question that we get, unfortunately,” Hall acknowledged.

Her response is not to dismiss the concern, but to contextualize it. “Colombia today is not the Colombia that it was 30 years ago. And it’s really important to instill that confidence.”

The persistence of that question speaks to a broader lag between reality and perception. As several advisors noted, Colombia’s image has been shaped less by firsthand experience than by other, outdated narratives – especially those popularized in U.S. media.

Hall pointed to one in particular. “I think it has a lot to do with the Netflix series Narcos,” she said. “It’s important not to forget the history… but not to dwell on it.”

For context, this November marks the tenth anniversary of the Colombia Peace Agreement, yet perception seems to lag far behind reality.

But for those who have spent time in the destination, experience tends to quickly recalibrate that perception.

Lisa Bandera of PDB Adventures based in Washington, D.C. described her attendance at Épica as part of that process.

“I think us being here is a perfect example of how we can counteract some of the narratives that are just outdated right now,” she said. “By coming here myself, I can show my guests that it is safe… that’s absolutely 100% been my experience.”

More notably, she said she doesn’t encounter significant resistance from clients once the destination is presented.

Instead, Colombia is typically positioned to travelers who are already looking for something beyond the familiar, or something that’s “not their first rodeo,” as she put it.

“Most of my clients still have some hesitancy about traveling to Colombia and South America in general, and most of that is based on just not having enough awareness of what the situation is really like and what travel can be like in Colombia,” explained Debi Kelley of Debi Kelley Travel and The Kairos Club.

Ravishankar noted that among his luxury clients, safety concerns are largely mitigated by the nature of the product itself.

“They are going to be traveling to more premium properties with proper transportation,” he said. “I don’t think it’s an issue.”

Instead, the challenge is that Colombia is not yet widely sold – in other words, lack of social proof among clients.

“We don’t have a lot of people in India selling this as of now,” he added.

But considering South America remains largely unexplored by his clients — combined with Middle East flight closures disrupting India-to-elsewhere routing — the timing could be ripe for both.

For Paola Campanelli, an advisor based in Milan, the task now is to translate that richness into something commercially viable.

“We are looking for new ways to sell the destination,” she said, noting that while Colombia was not always easy to position in the past, the current moment feels more open.

“I find a lot of new ideas and suggestions,” she added, reflecting the influence of events like Épica in shaping how the destination is understood and presented.

Together, these perspectives suggest a destination in transition – not from obscurity to prominence, but from assumption to understanding.

Colombia is still being discovered as much by the trade as it is by travelers, and even Colombians themselves.

The role of the advisor then is not to simply sell it, but to interpret it and be the bridge between what travelers are assuming and what the experience is actually like.

In that sense, the sentiment is neither unbridled optimism nor skepticism, but balanced — opportunity paired with responsibility.

But perhaps most importantly, an advisor’s role with Colombia is about stewardship: to educate clients about the destination in its own right, rather than through the lens of stereotypes and other narratives that are grossly outdated.

Jacques Ledbetter is a Luxury Travel Advisor contributor and founder of The Luxe Ledger newsletter.