Buenaventura seeks to revive tourism after earthquake with whale watching season

Buenaventura aims to revive its tourism industry following the earthquake with the whale-watching season. The city continues its whale-watching season amid the reconstruction and recovery process after the earthquake on August 10. While efforts continue to address the affected residents and restore infrastructure, the tourism sector seeks to maintain visitor arrivals and prevent cancellations of reservations. The governor of the Valle department has invited visitors to Buenaventura for whale watching, stating this is part of economic revitalization. The Chamber of Commerce of Buenaventura assured that tourism providers are capable of receiving visitors normally. Jenny Tapias Castaño, president of the entity, urged travelers not to cancel their bookings and to consider visiting Buenaventura for whale watching. This call comes during a season crucial to the local economy. Merchants, tour operators, restaurants, hotels, and families largely depend on the influx of visitors during these months. The whale-watching season began in July and will extend until late October or early November. During these months, humpback whales arrive in the waters of the Colombian Pacific as part of their reproductive cycle, migrating approximately 8,500 kilometers from Antarctica to reproduce, give birth, and stay with their calves. Expectations for this season were already set before the emergency. According to the Tourism Secretariat of the Valle del Cauca, more than 290,000 visitors are projected to arrive in Buenaventura, representing a 4% increase compared to the previous year. Incomes are estimated to approach $30 million for the regional economy. According to the Tourism Information System (Situr), 47% of the projected visitors would be domestic tourists, 46% from the Valle del Cauca, and 7% international visitors. For the Special District of Buenaventura, hotel occupancy is expected to exceed 45% during the season. Tourism activity is not limited to whale watching. Buenaventura also invites visitors to explore places such as Juanchaco, Ladrilleros, and La Barra, as well as to experience the cuisine and cultural expressions of the Pacific. These attractions are part of the offering aimed at maintaining the flow of visitors during the season. Whale watching is a tradition developed in different protected areas of the Colombian Pacific. This practice originated in the Uramba Bahía Málaga National Natural Park, located in Buenaventura, in 1994. Here are the four protected areas with eco-tourism potential enabled for this activity. Recommendations for whale watching National Parks have emphasized that tours should be conducted under responsible tourism criteria and respect for wildlife. Among the main provisions is maintaining a minimum distance of 200 meters from the whales, which must increase to 300 meters when dealing with mothers accompanied by their calves. Vessels cannot remain observing the same group of whales for more than 30 minutes. Additionally, there is a limit of three boats around the same group of cetaceans simultaneously. Speed is also a key factor during whale watching. When approaching the area where the whales are located, vessels must keep the engine in neutral or move at a speed below four knots, equivalent to about seven kilometers per hour. If a whale approaches within 100 meters of the vessel, the engine must be completely turned off. Natalia Bayona, executive director of UNWTO, proposed uniting the public and private sectors to recover tourism activities in the areas most affected by the powerful magnitude 7.4 earthquake that occurred last Monday, August 10. Through her official account on X (formerly Twitter), Bayona expressed that "they have the team of UNWTO to ensure, through multilateralism, trust, and normality, that they return soon." Bayona's proposal seeks to understand tourism not only as an economic activity but also as a means to accompany the recovery of affected communities. The initial proposal involves contacting travelers, companies, and public entities so that the return of visitors can help move local economies again. During the forum 'Barranquilla Global, City & Tourism,' held on August 26, Caracol Radio cited several of her statements. There, the official explained that solidarity tourism implies contributing financial and human resources, as well as "knowledge and experience, through greater connection between the public and private sectors." In the same sense, the executive director of UNWTO proposed bringing together airlines, travel agencies, the Ministry of Trade, the tourism industry, and competent guilds to design campaigns that promote the affected territories. The idea also includes developing new "tour packages" tailored to the conditions of each territory, allowing the most affected areas by the seismic movement to generate income while gradually recovering from the emergency. According to information from the Ministry of Housing, Territory, and Urban Development of Colombia, it is important to note that "the first priority is to attend to the affected families and determine technically the real extent of the damage, so the UNGRD will advance in coordination with territorial entities in the delivery of rental subsidies for families who must temporarily leave their homes." With the objective of avoiding the interruption of the academic formation of more than 2,000 students and medical residents, the directives of the Government of the Valle del Cauca, the University Hospital of the Valley 'Evaristo García' (HUV), and the University of the Valley (Univalle) established an articulation table to guarantee the continuity of their professional practices. The measure responds to the contingency generated by the structural damages suffered by the main campus of the HUV due to the earthquake that occurred on August 10. The central proposal evaluated by the institutions consists of enabling and reinforcing alternative practice sites outside the HUV. Among the health centers considered are the hospital campuses of the municipalities of Cartago and Tuluá, added to the hospitals 'Isaías Duarte Cancino' and 'Mario Correa Rengifo,' both located in Santiago de Cali. According to regional authorities, the redistribution will not only allow coverage of the academic development of residents and undergraduate students but will also strengthen the response capacity and medical care provided to users in the different municipalities of the department. The director of the University Hospital of the Valley, Irne Torres, coordinates the initiative. The governor of the Valle del Cauca, Dilian Francisca Toro, emphasized the need to maintain the training process adapting to the current operational capacities of the public network. In this regard, the manager of the HUV, Irne Torres Castro, reaffirmed the coordinated work between the hospital sector and academia to define the operational details in the coming days, benefiting both Univalle and other affiliated institutions. Likewise, the rector of the University of the Valley, Guillermo Murillo Vargas, assured that the institution will provide the necessary logistical support to students who must relocate to Cartago or other campuses in the department, in order to ensure the fulfillment of their academic objectives and service. Around 300 educational institutions in the municipalities not certified in the Valle del Cauca are advancing in restoring academic activities. The measure was adopted after the Departmental Government, in coordination with the Ministry of National Education, completed a census and technical evaluation regarding the safety conditions of the infrastructure in the sector. To guarantee the education of the student population, the authorities implemented a scheme that includes school shelters, friendly classrooms, and virtual education. Authorities in the department seek to ensure that young people continue their studies. In rural areas where the physical plant collapsed or presents serious structural failures, priority was given to the model of school shelters to sustain face-to-face teaching, reserving virtuality only for cases where physical displacement is not feasible. According to the official report, the department currently records 220 collapsed schools. The Subsecretary of Administrative and Financial Affairs of Education in the department, Yohanna Castañeda Mosquera, specified that 193 school shelters have been established.