Our industry celebrates diversity – but demands consistent quality.
Our industry celebrates diversity – but demands consistent quality.
Our industry celebrates diversity – but demands consistent quality.
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de Santa Marta, a mountain<br />
range soaring to a height of<br />
5,775 metres. Founded by<br />
the Spanish conquerors, Santa<br />
Marta is the oldest city in<br />
the country. Today the maritime<br />
port of Santa Marta is<br />
one of the country’s major<br />
central trading hubs, yet the<br />
city has preserved its historical<br />
centre and several important<br />
buildings dating from the<br />
Republican era such as the<br />
Villa Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino,<br />
where the liberator<br />
Simón Bolívar died in 1830.<br />
Santa Marta and its surround-<br />
Oldest city<br />
in the country<br />
ings are ideal destinations for<br />
lovers of nature, adventure<br />
and water sports, <strong>but</strong> they also<br />
provide a good meetings<br />
and hotel infrastructure capable<br />
of hosting international<br />
meetings, conferences and<br />
congresses.<br />
One such venue is the Irotama<br />
hotel and convention centre,<br />
a complex laid out in several<br />
gardens bursting with<br />
luxuriant tropical vegetation<br />
and home to hundreds of<br />
Typical for Cartagena de Indias:<br />
Its colourful balconies.<br />
birds and exotic animals. It<br />
has its own one kilometrelong<br />
beach and offers all the<br />
service features you would<br />
expect to find in a deluxe resort.<br />
The Irotama hotel and<br />
convention centre is<br />
equipped with a large hall<br />
serving as an auditorium and<br />
holding 600 people, plus nine<br />
meeting and conference<br />
rooms accommodating 15 to<br />
200 people. There are 240<br />
guestrooms, bungalows and<br />
suites. Diners in the seven<br />
restaurants, two bars and five<br />
snack bars will enjoy international<br />
cuisine and exotic tropical<br />
cocktails.<br />
Santamar congress and convention<br />
centre is strategically<br />
located just five minutes from<br />
Simón Bolívar Airport. It possesses<br />
eight spacious meeting<br />
rooms holding between<br />
20 and 1,100 people and is<br />
fitted out with state-of-the-art<br />
audiovisual technology and<br />
technical assistance for staging<br />
meetings and functions.<br />
The hotel belonging to it provides<br />
all the amenities of a<br />
deluxe-bracket resort: 127<br />
rooms and bungalows, restaurant,<br />
bar, cafeteria, swimming<br />
baths and, most impor-<br />
tantly, Wi-Fi internet. Covering<br />
15,000 hectares, Tayrona<br />
National Park, considered one<br />
of the finest in the country<br />
and among the most popular<br />
destinations in the Colombian<br />
Caribbean, is ideal for fringe<br />
programmes. A host of outdoor<br />
activities can be arranged<br />
there: guided walks,<br />
horseback riding tours, rafting<br />
on Don Diego River and much<br />
more besides.<br />
In Colombia MICE organisers<br />
will naturally also find a string<br />
of professional partners to<br />
provide advice and active assistance<br />
with the organisation<br />
and realisation of meetings<br />
and incentives. One of<br />
these is the Promotora Neptuno<br />
agency set up back in<br />
1986. The company, whose<br />
owners come from Colombia,<br />
Germany and Switzerland,<br />
specialises in organising all<br />
kinds of trips through Colombia.<br />
A department for corporate<br />
and holiday travel completes<br />
its range. General<br />
Manager Tortsen Krempin is<br />
adamant that that the 15strong<br />
team consists of highly<br />
dedicated, dynamic, experienced<br />
and absolutely servicefocused<br />
travel professionals.<br />
Particularly when it comes to<br />
incentives, Krempin says Colombia<br />
is an unspent and authentic<br />
destination: “We<br />
have all the climate and vegetation<br />
zones to be found on<br />
Earth here, snow-covered Andean<br />
peaks, tropical rainforests,<br />
pristine beaches along<br />
the Pacific coast, top-notch<br />
infrastructure in the Caribbean,<br />
desert regions, little colonial<br />
villages and what are<br />
undoubtedly the nicest, most<br />
cheerful and helpful people<br />
on the continent.”<br />
For further information on<br />
Colombia visit www.colombia.travel<br />
KA<br />
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