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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 />

1/2010 89

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