“Colombia is the untold story of the region,” says Luis Germán Restrepo, U.S. executive director, Proexport Colombia, the entity that promotes international tourism, foreign investment and non-traditional exports in the country. For years, the country’s image problem, triggered by internal conflicts related to the drug trade and politics, kept many travelers away. Proexport’s creation of a public relations campaign, themed “Colombia, the only risk is wanting to stay,” started to change the minds of travelers and meeting planners.

If the growth in the number of MICE bookings is a good indicator, Proexport is succeeding. Some 126,982 travelers arrived in the country in 2012 to participate in events — a growth of 1.4 percent over the previous year, according to Colombia’s National Directorate of Taxes and Customs. And growth is expected to increase by 2 or 3 percent this year, according to Restrepo, who adds, “We are especially talking to North American groups and seeing much more interest.”

The changes are reflected in the International Congress and Convention Association’s annual world rankings. In 2012, Colombia placed 29th out of 109 countries, up three spaces from the previous year. “This positive trend is based on the growth process of Colombia’s hotel and event infrastructure, which places us as a safe and modern country to conduct conferences and conventions,” Restrepo says.

Restrepo also stresses the country’s tourism campaign, “Colombia Is Magical Realism,” designed to highlight the country’s attractions to tourists and meeting planners. “We succeeded in changing the meaning of the word ‘risk,’ and now we want to tell the world about Colombia’s magical unique experiences. We want to emphasize the beauty that inspired great literary pieces of magical realism.”

Colombia has advantages for planners who want to organize a meeting or event in a foreign city. Visas are not required for U.S. citizens, connectivity via air to Bogotá and Cartagena is excellent, and the time zone is similar to U.S. Central Time. Meetings can be planned any time of year in this country located about 1,000 miles from the equator because there are no strongly defined summer, fall, winter and spring seasons — just “wet” and “dry” periods.

Three cities — Bogotá, Cartagena and Medellín — handle about 85 percent of the international events in Colombia, according to Proexport. Each has different attractions, both in terms of meeting facilities and after-meeting activities.

NO SURPRISE, BOGOTÁ as the Colombian capital leads in the number of conferences and conventions. Bogotá’s infrastructure for conventions and meetings ranges from a big convention center with fairgrounds to smaller venues in hotels. There are almost 200 meeting and conference rooms located in hotels and specialized centers, plus several convention centers and auditoriums. In 2014, a W Hotel is expected to open in Bogotá.

Bogotá’s biggest center is the Corferias International Exhibition Center, comprised of the Corferias Convention Center and a fairground; the complex has a 1,000-seat auditorium; several smaller meeting rooms to accommodate 50 to 500 people; 22 pavilions of various sizes; and more than 161,000 square feet of outdoor exhibition area.

The Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada Convention Center in the Tequendama International Center financial district has five event spaces and can hold up to 2,500 people, or 5,000 for a concert. The Compensar Convention Center has two large auditoriums, 15 meeting rooms and outdoor areas for exhibits and concerts.

Planners seeking unusual places to hold events should consider Museo del Oro, the Gold Museum. Meeting attendees will enjoy exploring the bohemian La Macarena neighborhood, which has good restaurants, coffee houses and quirky shops.

CARTAGENA DE INDIAS is a much smaller city than Bogotá, but it’s a popular spot for meetings because of its historic heart partially surrounded by ancient walls. Gatherings here have included the World Economic Forum in 2007 and the Summit of the Americas in 2012. Planners can create events at a restaurant atop the wall during the sunset hour or arrange daytrips to nearby islands.

The Cartagena de Indias Convention Center can handle conventions up to 2,000 people. It has a grand salon that can be divided into four smaller spaces, each with four simultaneous translation cabins. The center includes an auditorium that holds 1,200 people, plus meeting rooms and outdoor exhibition spaces.

Hilton Cartagena Convention Center © Hilton

Two larger hotels can also handle groups. The Hilton Cartagena Convention Center in the 340- room Hilton Hotel has 20 meeting rooms and can handle up to 2,300 people. The Las Américas Convention Center in the 500-room Hotel Las Américas can handle meetings and gatherings up to 650 people.

For high-end meetings and executive retreats, consider one of three upscale hotels inside the ancient walls of Cartagena’s Old Town. The 31-room Casa San Agustin is a boutique property, while the Sofitel Santa Clara and the Charleston Santa Teresa, which is located in a former convent, are larger. Both Avila and Meliá, two high-end properties, are planned to open in Cartagena in 2014.

MEDELLÍN, THE COUNTRY’S second-largest city, set in a valley surrounded by mountains, has a growing MICE business. The Plaza Mayor Convention Center features 21 meeting rooms, a grand salon for 3,000 people and nine rooms for committee meetings that can accommodate from 20 to 300. The Plaza Mayor also has a multifunctional space called La Caja de Madera (“the wooden box”) for groups of 700 to 1,200. It’s used as a space for launching products, concerts, fashion shows, banquets, exhibits and cultural events. The Palacio de Exposiciones, another part of Plaza Mayor, has four indoor pavilions where up to 500 stands can be set up, plus space for outdoor exhibits. The Medellín InterContinental Hotel has a convention center with 16 function rooms which can handle up to 1,200.

There are so many choices for MICE travel in Colombia, it can be confusing. Proexport is a good gateway to learning more and has offices in Miami; New York; and Washington, D.C. As Proexport’s Luis Germán Restrepo says, “We try to make everything easier for the meeting planners or the incentive planner. We try to be the first and only contact, so things get done in a smooth manner.”