Colombia, a Top Tourist Destination

A Cartagena street scene

Colombia came in second in the New York Times' very unscientific readers' poll of 2010 tourism destinations. One suspects that the Colombian Embassy did some lobbying - but no matter. It shows how far Colombia's come from a decade ago, when it was almost a failed state.

The article's accompanying comments talk about how beautiful, friendly and inexpensive the country is. There are lots of great places to travel to, of course, but perhaps the outstanding thing about Colombia is that tourism's still new here, and so you can feel like you're off the beaten path, and locals are still generally enthusiastic about foreigners. In tourist-choked locals like Cusco, Peru and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, you might get the opposite reaction.

But, Colombia won't be the new frontier for tourism for long. How will expanding tourism impact Colombia's tremendous biodiversity - which is what many visitors come to see - and which is already under pressure from climate change?

Hopefully, tourism can contribute to the preservation of Colombia's biodiversity and human culture.

Macaws are in decline from habitat loss and hunting.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours.