South America - Lots of new Colombia routes, various airlines

Article in Spanish

http://www.caracol.com.co/noticias/economia/aprueban-dos-nuevas-rutas-aereas-desde-bogota-hacia-inglaterra-y-puerto-rico/20120711/nota/1720240.aspx

Summarising new permissions. Includes the mooted AV BOG LON and LA BOG MAD

TAME Ecuador permitted to fly QUITO - BOGOTA - CARACAS 7 days a week

LAN Colombia permitted to fly BOGOTA- MADRID 4x / week and BOGOTA SAO PAULO 1x / week

COPA Colombia permitted to fly CARTAGENA TORONTO CARTAGENA 3x / week starting 2013 rising to 4x / week in 2014

Avianca permitted to fly

CALI - CARTAGENA 7x / week
CALI - BARRANQUILLA 7x / week
CALI - BUCARAMANGA 7x / week
CALI - LETICIA 1x / week
BARRANQUILLA - SAN ANDRES 1x / week
MEDELLÍN - MONTERÍA 7x / week
BOGOTÁ - LETICIA 2x / week
BOGOTÁ - LONDON 7x / week
BOGOTÁ - FRANKFURT 7x / week
CALI - PANAMA Alternate days

Great news! Can't wait; travelling between LON and BOG is a pain at the moment.

Oh I saw another article yesterday announcing also that JetBlue will commence NYC-CTG too

I was in Cartegena, Colombia earlier this year and found it to be unspoilt by mass tourism. I suspect the increase in flights will soon change things. It's good to have more flight options, but the downside could be an increase in touts, increased demand for hotels which in turn increases prices, crowds at tourist sights, etc. Cartegena was a gem, well worth exploring. There are so few destinations left where one can travel to and not have the headaches associated with mass tourism.

FTers, who are planning on or thinking about Colombia;, I'd look for deals on some of the new routes posted by Johnny Colombia and go NOW before the destination is spoilt by mass tourism.

I don't really get the above post. Cartagena is already the most touristy place in Colombia and is brimming at the gills with tourists. I wouldn't say they have spoilt it by any means but most of those lithe chicas are from Argentina and on holiday in CTG, they aren't locals.

Hotels already cost at least double of something comparable in Medellín, but I cannot see it can be spoilt by mass tourism, it isn't as if they can build a brand new huge Hilton in the Old City. Cartagena is a fairly large city and only a very small corner would be seen by a casual visitor.

Tourism is great for Cartagena, the city already has the best tourism infrastructure of any Colombian city, and it is tourism that is developing resorts along the road from the airport.

My guess is that CTG has bags of capacity before it becomes anything like spoilt.

"FTers, who are planning on or thinking about Colombia" of course don't just have Cartagena as options. Popayán is a marvellous colonial city too with only a fraction of the tourism that CTG has.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8435/7804038422_e4fe60b618_c.jpg

If you want to be on the coast then it's not hard to find a beach to yourself either. Here's one I made earlier

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5458/6949172642_1802250f99_c.jpg

If anyone needs me I will be in the pool :)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8429/7804388504_d6af16802e_c.jpg

AA announces Dallas to Bogotá

http://www.routes-news.com/item/862-aa-announces-new-dallas–bogotá-route