Some weeks ago I was listening to a most interesting interview to a notorious Catalan backpacker. He had been to some 40 countries or so, the interview was broadcasted by Ràdio 4, sorry no link.
The conversation was quite an interesting one, and by the end of the interview the journalist asked the backpacker which were, according to him, the countries where people were most kind, helpful and welcoming to visitors.
The backpacker answered quite strainghtforward: "India, for sure, India is the world's number one... then other countries, perhaps Southeast Asia..." -the fellow was talking spontanioulsy, just off his hat, turning his mind, and then the glorious moment came "... others also, Colombia for instance... hmmm...". And then off to another question.
I was positively struck by this spontanious, direct answer, and of course by the fact that Colombia was on top of the world as far as kindness goes... a very good news for Colombia as a destination.
I've experienced myself the kindness of Colombians and their warm and heartily welcome to foreigners. It's nice knowing I am not the only one thinking that Colombia deserves better in this respect. I hope one day the country's image will be the real one and not the one brought to us by many media.
The aforesaid is a strucking fact... and even more strucking given the newest report on countries' competitiveness by the World Economic Forum. It ranks Colombia in the 89th place. Here is the link to the rankings of Latin America. Certainly, we must catch up on several things but we'd better do so with a smiling face, so surely we will then attract investors, buyers and tourists from all over the world... "¡p'alante, mi gente!".
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