It's really not a reciprocity fee. If it were then people from the USA, UK, Australia etc. would have to pay too.

It's a curious one. It is borne out of Canada changing their requirements for visas. All visas now require biometric details and biometric info can only be gathered in Bogotá. The argument made by the Colombians is that this means that people that do not live in Bogotá now have to pay more to get a visa because they have to travel to Bogotá rather than going to their local consulate. This in and of itself is a stupid argument because Canada only has one consulate outside of Bogotá and that is in Cartagena. So sure someone from Barranquilla cannot get the bus to Cartagena to get their visa. But what of people from Medellín, Bucaramanga, Cali etc? They would have had to go to Bogotá anyway

Other countries such as Chile, Argentina and Brazil yes, apply a reciprocal fee. That seems fair. The Colombian fee which only applies to Canadians seems more to be a case of some or other Colombian official got his panties all bunched up. Threatened Canada with a fee if they didn't remove the biometric requirement from visas. The corresponding Canadian official told him to shuttup and voila! Canada got a fee.

Yes it is stupid. Canada has every right to decide who can enter and what information they need to provide. That is a meaningful choice that they are entitled to make. The Colombian response is just childish. And yes, as someone that works in tourism, I can say that it has indeed reduced the number of Canadians visiting Colombia. It's not even well organised. It is priced in USD but do they even accept that in the airport? Do you have to bring pesos? They should at least have a website with an e-visa application if they want to be petty.