Covid-19 gives Cartagena a chance to restrain tourism

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FOR DECADES Colombia had trouble attracting tourists. Few wanted to visit a country where drug lords bombed passenger jets and guerrillas kidnapped ordinary citizens. The country became safer after the government began peace talks with the FARC, the largest guerrilla group, in 2012 (the war formally ended in 2016). When the shooting stopped, the first destination for many tourists was Cartagena.

Once the Spanish empire’s most important port in northern South America, Cartagena has kept its colonial centre and the limestone walls and forts that shielded the city from pirates. Recently the city has marketed itself too well. In 2019 more than 500,000 foreign tourists came, triple the number in 2012. Domestic visitors outnumber them. A study commissioned by UNESCO, which added Cartagena’s centre to its list of world heritage sites in 1984, warns that “the intensive use of tourism” threatens its preservation. In the covid-19 pandemic, Cartagena’s government sees a chance to ward off the danger.