The Medellin Travel Blog: Where to Stay and What to Do» News and Views

House Hunters International TV show will be in Medellin

Andrew Campion — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 20:00:44 +0000

Home & Garden TV -HGTV- network will be filming a new episode in Colombia of the popular show House Hunters Internationals. The first city in Colombia chosen by the producers is Medellin and they have plans to make at least another two episodes in Cartagena and Bogota. Shooting will take place in second half of April and the final show is expected to be on air in July 2011.

“Medellin is starting to get attraction from a large and diverse ex-pat population not only from US and Canada but also from different type of investors around the world that have seen the potential of the city, in terms of low cost of living, friendly and open locals, health care, security, accessible and reasonable real estate.” says Mauricio Jaimes , BuyColombiaRealty.com Executive Director, a web-based real estate company specialized in promoting real estate investments in Colombia to international buyers, and who will be acting as the real estate agent for the Medellin show.

House Hunters Internationals is a half-hour documentary style show that features real estate agents and their home-buying clients as they hunt for that perfect new home in a foreign country.

Although House Hunters International show is on air since 2006, this is the first time filming will take place in a Colombian city. It represents a great opportunity to expose the good moment the country currently is experiencing, since it provides exposure to over 97 million households in the United States, as well as several countries around the world, including the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Finland and the Middle East.

In Latin America, particularly in Colombia, the program can be seen on pay cable channel FOX Life.

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Medellin’s Mining Boom Brings the World Mining Expo to Town

Andrew Campion — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 20:56:15 +0000

The Colombian mining industry remains one of the most dynamic and promising sectors of the country, in just one year mining investment has reached record figures in excess of 2,000 million dollars and the trend in the short term will continue.

This sector contributes to the economic growth and social development of the country and the development of the regions where the mining activity is located. In addition this contribution to social and environmental development of the country is higher than the industry average.

This year again, Medellin presents the VII INTERNATIONAL MINING SHOW – COLOMBIA MINING 2011, in association with the Colombian mining sector and of course with their main representatives: producers, suppliers, traders, investors, mining institutions and academia, in an ideal place to the information exchange and trade integration.

The Mining Show offers an exhibition area greater than 1.882 m2, with over 170 booths available in the white, yellow and blue Pavilions at Exhibition Palace – Plaza Mayor in the city of Medellin – Colombia. And additional for this year, we have fitted out the Blue Pavillon for the International companies from our 6 guest countries (Canada, Australia, South Korea, Germany, Chile and Poland). Therefore, we invite you to have a presence with your company from August 31 to September 2, 2011.

Location: Medellín, Colombia
Contact: bgota-td@international.gc.ca
Website: www.miningcolombia.com

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New Survey Reveals 99% of Visitors are Highly Satisfied with Medellin

Andrew Campion — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 20:25:37 +0000

I recent survey carried out by the Ministry of Tourism between October and November last year revealed that Medellin ranks higher than just about any other city in the world for tourist satisfaction and confirms Medellin’s position as one of the most important tourist destinations in Colombia.

Medellin is currently the third most visited destination in Colombia after Bogota and Cartagena, attracting around 11% of foreigners who visit the country.

Below are the complete results to the survey in English.

1. 63% of the surveyed were between 25 and 44 years old
2. 71% of the surveyed were men.
3. 50% are from Central and South America, 25% are from Europe and 20% from North America
4. 55% of the surveyed answered that the reason of their trip was rest and tourism. It is important to notice that this percentage is in that way because 94% of the surveys were made in touristic places and only 6% in hotels.
5. 55% of the surveyed stayed in Medellin more than 4 days.
6. 46% of the surveyed arrived to Medellin directly and 34% arrived through Bogota.
7. Before arriving to Medellin the surveyed visited: Cartagena 26%, Bogota 23%, Cali 16%, Santa Marta 13% and Manizales 10%.
8. For the 69% of the surveyed it was their first visit to Medellin.
9. 33% of the surveyed said that they chose to come to Medellin for the references given by friends and relatives
10. 99% of the surveyed said that they leave Medellin with a high degree of satisfaction.
11. 85% of the surveyed said that the services offer in Medellin is very good
12. 95% of the surveyed said that there is a high probability that they recommend Medellin to their friends and relatives.
13. 95% of the surveyed said that they are going to visit Medellin again, and from that 95%, 40% said that they are going to visit Medellin the next year.
14. 58% of the surveyed stayed in a hotel or an apartments, 28% in a friend’s house and 13% in a hostel.
15. 92% of the surveyed said that the accommodation offer was very good
16. 68% of the surveyed had previous tourist information about Medellin.
17. 47% of the surveyed said that the information that they got about the city was provided by a friend, 17% by WebPages and 15% due previous trips.
18. 95% of the surveyed used Medellin public transport
19. 92% of the surveyed used Taxi, and 86% used the Metro system.
20. 95% of the surveyed said that the public transport in Medellin is very efficient.
21. Los 4 lugares visitados por el 50% ò + de los encuestados fueron en su orden, el Metro, Plaza Botero, El parque lleras y el Parque Explora (Acuario). More than 50% of the surveyed visited the Metro, Plaza Botero, Parque Lleras and Parque Explora (aquarium).
22. 52% of the surveyed said that the average expenses in a day without including accommodation and food was between 1USD and 50 USD and 28% said that was between 51 USD and 100USD.
23. What visitors like more about the city is: its kind people, its weather, the mountains and its beautiful people.
24. What visitors do not like about the city is: the traffic jams, the homeless people, the crime and the lack of tourist information stands in the streets.
25. They suggest to the tourism authorities, more tourism information stands, more security, more information, English speaking guides and less homeless people.
26. 86% of the visitors have a professional title or more.

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Making a Mint in Medellin

Andrew Campion — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 21:45:10 +0000

Shares of the top bank in the world’s hottest emerging market should keep marching higher.

It’s not really a surprise that emerging market stocks are kicking sand in the face of the developed world’s equities. With China and India doing the heavy lifting, the engines of growth are just stronger there.

Plus, emerging markets are less susceptible than developed markets to debt crises; they don’t have big enough budgets to get into that kind of trouble.

Fourteen of the 22 countries in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index have registered double-digit gains for the year, led by Colombia (57.9%#, Peru #49.2%#, and Thailand #45.2%).

The BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) are the largest of the emerging markets, and they have shown widely varying results. India has booked a robust 18.8% gain for the year to date, with China and Russia each up 5.6%. Brazil trails the group with a 2.4% gain.

What conclusions do I draw from all these numbers? Well, only the usual things I’ve been saying for years. First, the emerging markets are stronger than the developed markets right now. That’s not a surprise. It will also be no surprise when markets correct and emerging markets fall farther than developed markets. There is no gain without risk, and the higher the potential gain, the higher the risk.

Colombia [has been] the leading emerging market of the past year. Colombia is enjoying the benefits of kicking out the drug lords and getting back to the business of economic growth.

One of the companies that’s enjoying the experience is Bancolombia (NYSE: CIB), the largest bank in the country. This is no flash-in-the-pan company. Earnings growth has been steady, with gains of 39%, 45%, 31%, and 24% in the last four quarters, and the company’s after-tax profit margin reached 20.8% in the third quarter. [The latest numbers are 19.5% for India, -4.9% for China, 14.3% for Russia and 4.5% for Brazil.—Editor]

The chart for CIB shows a stock that rose strongly in 2009, then put in a five-month base that lasted through May 2010. When the blastoff came in June, the stock raced from $44 on June 1st to $62 in late July. Two bases—three weeks at $64 in September and five weeks at $66 starting on September 28th—have set the stock up for further advances. (It closed just above $66 Tuesday—Editor.)

CIB isn’t going to be a rocket shot. The company pays a 2% dividend and works better as a long-term holding than a trading vehicle. But CIB is a great base holding to underpin the higher-volatility picks in your portfolio while providing a little income.

via Making a Mint in Medellin – MoneyShow.com.

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Is Colombia a new emerging leader?

Medellin Woman Crowned Miss World Colombia 2010

Andrew Campion — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 22:07:20 +0000

Laura Marcela Palacio Restrepo was crowned Miss Mundo Colombia 2010 at the finale held yesterday 16th of August at the Plaza de los Artesanos in Bogotá. Laura is 23 year old and stands 5’8”. She will represent Colombia in Miss World 2010 in Sanya, China on October 30. Laura is ‘Paisa’ a native of Medellin, Antioquia.

via Laura Marcela Palacio Restrepo crowned Miss Mundo Colombia 2010 | WORLD SHOWBIZ.

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Is Colombia a new emerging leader?

Andrew Campion — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 23:53:30 +0000

The May 6 “flash crash” panicked a lot of U.S. investors, but it might have also marked the entry of a new country to the global-growth story: Colombia.

The Global X InterBolsa FTSE Colombia20 exchange-traded fund ( GXG ) has rallied 19 percent in the last three months, compared with a 5 percent loss for the S&P 500 and a 1 percent gain for the broader emerging-market sector over the same period.

There aren’t options on GXG yet because it was only introduced in early 2009 and has thin trading volume. However, there are calls and puts available on the country’s biggest lender, Bancolombia ( CIB ), which has outperformed GXG with a 28 percent gain in the last three months. CIB pulled back last week after moving straight up last month, and this morning I bought the shares.

While Colombia might sound risky, there are plenty of reasons to like this country. The first reason is that it has a bad reputation because of the history of drug trafficking, but that is ancient history now. I spent 10 days in Medellin and Bogota earlier this year and saw nothing but growth and progress.

The airport in Medellin is undergoing major expansion and the country overall has an amazingly good health-care system. They’re not just exporting coffee and oil. Colombia is already a center of education and intellectual life.

Even more importantly, the economy is underleveraged. The banks are overcapitalized and the lending standards are extremely tight. At the same time, the government implemented financial reforms in 2002 to allow the rise of securitization.

Topping it off, they also have a privatized pension system that needs to buy lots of bonds. When you put all those pieces together, the groundwork has been laid for a boom in lending and investment that could last for years–if not decades.

It’s also worth noting that the “flash crash” was largely precipitated by worries about debt and stagnation in Europe. Colombia, however, is everything that Europe is not. It has little debt, growing incomes and a young population. (Coincidentally, Colombia also kicked off the first emerging-market investment boom in 1822. Long before British capital flowed into U.S. railroads, it targeted the country named after Christopher Columbus.)

Furthermore, the Colombian peso has been a very strong currency, forcing the country’s central bank to buy dollars to prevent the appreciation from hurting exports. While I won’t pretend to be a currency expert, there is a huge amount of foreign direct investment flooding into the country by major multinational corporations. That means there will be job growth and higher incomes for years into the future as those investments unfold.

One chart-based reason to support the bull case for Colombia is that CIB and GXG both hit new all-time highs last week, while markets in most other countries (with the notable exception of Singapore) are still trying to break free of their 200-day moving averages.

As I wrote last month, the global-growth story is back. In 2003-2007, it was led by Brazil, Russia, India and China. The new story could be for investors to look for new names with new growth opportunities, such as Colombia. We will continue to explore the growing universe of emerging market names in coming weeks.

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HP to Open Global Service Center in Medellin, Colombia, Building on $2.5 Billion of ICT Investment in Country

Andrew Campion — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:13:05 +0000

HP to Open Global Service Center in Medellin, Colombia, Building on $2.5 Billion of ICT Investment in Country

On July 13, Hewlett Packard announced plans to open a state of the art Global Service Center in the city of Medellín.

Confirming its commitment to emerging markets and specifically Latin America, HP announced a strategic partnership with the City of Medellín and the Colombian national government to open a new Global Service Center that is designed to operate as a strategic hub of operations with cross-functional capabilities, such as technology, back office and sales support.

The selection of the location was based on multiple factors, including the highly skilled workforce, top-calibre universities, government cooperation, and strategic training opportunities. Over the past ten years Medellin has undergone a process of social, urban, and economic transformation which has allowed the city to receive world class companies.

I am grateful that HP appreciated the efforts of the Colombian and Medellín governments to make the country and region attractive for information technology and business process outsourcing (BPO) investments, stated Alonso Salazar, Major of the City of Medellín. The City of Medellin’s Internationalization strategy led by the ACI, Cooperation and Investment Promotion Agency, is designed to attract foreign direct investment, and the strategic partnership with HP constitutes an important success for the city, added the Mayor.

HP’s decision to open a service center in Medellin validates the national governmental strategy to encourage global companies to invest in Colombia.The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism has led the efforts and programs to transform Colombia into a world-class location for BPO and IT. Proexport, Colombia´s foreign investment promotion agency, has been promoting this transformation and encouraging world class companies to invest in the country.

We very much welcome this important decision by HP, which underscores the increasing attractiveness of Colombia to leading companies from around the world in key strategic sectors” stated Luis Guillermo Plata, Minister of Trade, Industry and Tourism of Colombia.

The HP announcement is the latest in a stream of investments from ICT providers including IBM, Citibank and French-based Teleperformance – seeking to capitalize on the country’s competitive advantages in the industry. Over the past seven years, Colombia has received $2.5 billion of ICT investment, with 76% in the past three years.

With the new Global Service Center, HP expects to enhance the total experience for our customers by improving our ability to deliver services quickly and efficiently, said Gerard Brossard, HP Vice President of Strategy.

via HP to Open Global Service Center in Medellin, Colombia, Building on $2.5 Billion of ICT Investment in Country.

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For Real Estate Investors, Colombia Has a Bright Future

Andrew Campion — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 17:44:17 +0000

A few days ago, Colombian voters went to the polls for the first round of their quadrennial presidential elections. For many, it will be the most important decision of the new century thus far.

The current President, Alvaro Uribe, leaves office later this summer after two consecutive terms in office. He is legally barred from serving a third term. Uribe is regarded as the nation’s savior by many Colombians, and as the devil incarnate by others.

While his administration was salted with multiple accomplishments and scandals, Uribe’s lasting legacy will be the tough war that he waged on the FARC and paramilitary groups… and by many accounts, it is a war that the government has won.

I need to pause for a moment and explain a bit about the differences in the various groups in Colombia, which are often used interchangeably by mistake.

The FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) is a Marxist guerilla group numbering anywhere between 10,000 to 20,000 strong. The FARC’s aims are political, and they fund their operations primarily through ransom kidnappings.

Conversely, the paramilitary groups in Colombia consist of loose factions that are largely driven by economic prospects rather than political change. They are not Marxists, they are drug traffickers and extortionists.

While in office, Uribe stood up to both the FARC and paramilitaries, waging a tough war of attrition that turned his nation into a police state, albeit a much safer one than before.

According to Uribe’s numbers, over 16,000 ‘subversives’ have been killed since he took office in 2002, while kidnappings and other violent crime have fallen precipitously. I’m not sure the body stack is an accomplishment, but Colombians generally feel much safer than 5-10 years ago. The credit has gone largely to Uribe.

His hand-picked successor is Juan Manuel Santos, a former defense minister who was an active architect of Uribe’s war on the guerillas. Santos was credited with engineering multiple blows against the FARC, including the 2008 rescue of Ingrid Betancourt.

Santos is viewed as the Presidential candidate who would most seamlessly carry on Uribe’s policies and maintain the stability that the current government has been able to achieve. As such, Santos was the undisputed victor in the first round of the Presidential elections, and he will advance to the June 20th runoff.

Some Colombians, though, are ready for a change. They are weary of the super-security culture in their country and would rather focus on things like education, regulatory reform, and economic growth rather than continuing to wage war on fractured guerilla organizations.

The second candidate who will join Santos in the upcoming runoff is former Bogota mayor Antanas Mockus– an eccentric mathematician and university professor who is as close to Santos’ polar opposite as it gets among political candidates.

Mockus is a self-proclaimed pacifist whose focus on education and tolerance propelled him to second place in the first round of the elections with 21.47% of the vote. He is the change candidate and represents the desire of at least a minority of Colombians who want to move on from terrorism and security.

Santos garnered 46.57% of the votes in the first round though, so it is widely expected that he will handily win the June 20th runoff election to become Colombia’s next president.

The Colombian peso, local stock market, and government bonds have all rallied on the expectation of a new pro-business, pro-security Santos administration. Santos himself has stated that he would like to raise tax revenue, not by increasing tax rates, but by encouraging investment to boost production instead.

I’ve stated before that I think Colombia is largely undervalued. Real estate prices, for instance, are incredibly cheap in many parts of the country, frequently selling for less than the cost of construction. This is due mainly to the ‘Colombia stigma’ that has long plagued the country… it keeps foreigners out and prices low.

In the not-so-distant-future, though, I expect this stigma to fade… possibly under a Santos administration. When that happens, you can be sure that Colombian assets will experience significant growth.

Overall, I think the country has one of the brightest futures in Latin America.

Simon Black
Senior Editor, SovereignMan.com

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Safety in Medellin vs The Rest of The World

Andrew Campion — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 17:02:44 +0000

US Police Forces

I had a really great long weekend in Chicago and was fortunate enough to meet up with a couple of very interesting subscribers. President Obama was even in town, and the entire city was in a heightened state of security.

Regardless of the President’s presence, though, there were 30 shootings in the city over the weekend… which is enough to make anyone scratch his head and wonder about safety.

You hear about similar crime statistics from time to time, whether in places like Chicago, Mexico, Africa, etc. People automatically assume that those places are inherently dangerous. Sometimes that’s true… but usually not.

The reality is that most crime around the world, in North America, Asia, or Latin America, generally takes place in localized areas. Even in your own home town, chances are that you know the places to avoid.

In Chicago, for instance, I was been running all over town having a great time, completely unaffected by the criminal shootings going on in other parts of the city… simply because I have situational awareness and didn’t bother venturing to the areas that I know to avoid.

It’s rarely different anywhere else. In Medellin, Colombia for example, the sprawling and wealthy el Poblado district is a beautiful, safe area that I would feel comfortable recommending to my own mother. The shanty neighborhoods built into the hillside, though, are where you want to avoid.

These are common-sense choices that any individual should make, expat or not, traveler or not. Safety, fundamentally, is an individual responsibility… too many people place their livelihood into the hands of the government, expecting safety and protection in return for their tax dollars.

Unfortunately, this simply isn’t the case.

In 1981, after a series of events which led to the brutal abuse and robbery of two Washington DC women, the US Court of Appeals ruled that “a government and its agents are under no general duty to provide public services, such as police protection, to any individual citizen.”

This sort of puts “to serve and protect” in a new light… so much for your tax dollars at work. This is why, fundamentally, we are all on our own in this world, whether we realize it or not. The government is not there to save us.

People always ask me about safe places vs. unsafe places, and I have a pretty good sense of the issue from having traveled so much. I don’t recommend countries that I find to be unsafe, and to be clear, I define this as having an elevated chance of criminal encounters outside of the ‘unsafe’ parts of town.

Buenos Aires is an excellent example. It’s a beautiful city, sort of, but the crime situation has really deteriorated to the point that you can easily be robbed and/or assaulted in broad daylight on the most popular tourist streets in town.

It happens every single day, and I know numerous people who have fallen victim.

I wouldn’t rule it out as a place to live, but people should have much more situational awareness in that city than in, say, Medellin.

Simon Black
Senior Editor, SovereignMan.com

Luxury Medellin Real Estate, Medellin Property Listings, Real Estate Advice and Consultancy

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Medical Tourism on the rise in Colombian City of Medellín

Andrew Campion — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 23:24:43 +0000

Having endured waves of violence for being the command centre of a well-known cocaine empire in Colombia, the city of Medellín is experiencing a surge in medical tourism.

During the 1980s and early 1990s the hospitals and morgues in Medellín were inundated with victims of executions carried out by the organisation headed by Pablo Escobar, as well as casualties of battles with left-wing guerrillas, particularly in the neighbourhood of Santo Domingo.

The expertise cultivated during those dark years has given the hospitals a leading edge to become proficient in organ transplants and specialised surgeries.

The neighbourhood of Santo Domingo is today a fine example of urban regeneration, with private hospitals such as Pablo Tobón Uribe at the top of the list in demand for transplant surgeries. Providing a standard of care rivalling the one provided at hospitals in developed countries, at a fraction of the cost, has proven to be a very attractive proposition to many US citizens and other foreign nationals in need of specialised medical attention.

All the patients needs are covered with a holistic approach, including their cultural, dietary and religious needs whilst hospitalised. A special unit coordinates the care of all international patients and arranges transportation, accommodation, booking of flights and other assistance.

In addition of general surgery, the hospital promotes neurological interventions, obesity-reduction surgeries and cancer treatments.

The Pablo Tobón Uribe Hospital has contracts with Bupa International and Blue Cross Blue Shield of the US, plus five other international insurance companies.

Companies mentioned:

Bupa International

BUPA is an international health insurance company that provides health insurance for individuals and companies all over the world. This company has offices on three continents and over 7 million customers’ world wide. As a provident association BUPA has no shareholders, because of this it uses its profits to invest in healthcare and medical facilities around the world.

Blue Cross Blue Shield

The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) is a national federation of 39 independent, community-based and locally operated Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies. Throughout our 80-year history, the 39 Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies have provided millions of families with top-quality, affordable health insurance. Today, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Brands are registered in more than 170 countries.

Pablo Tobón Uribe Hospital

The Pablo Tobón Uribe Hospital (PTUH) began work in 1970, but its history dates back to 1946. The Pablo Tobón Uribe Hospital is a non-profit, private foundation. It is a general hospital, with

By Sergio via Medical Tourism on the rise in Colombian City of Medellín : International Insurance News.

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