Is Colombia the New New Zealand?

Travel Blog • Eva Holland • 10.16.07 | 2:11 PM ET

We’ve been tracking Colombia’s rise from narcotics netherworld to “hipster tropical destination du jour” for some time now, and it looks like an upcoming potential blockbuster movie could help complete the transition. “Love in the Time of Cholera,” based on the novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, hits North American theaters in November. Last week Jaunted predicted an accompanying movie-tourism explosion. Amandak writes: “If you haven’t read Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s fantastic book Love in the Time of Cholera you should, now. It’s about to become for Colombia what Lord of the Rings was for New Zealand: a major tourism generator. The nice part is that Garcia Marquez really did set his book in Colombia, whereas the whole Lord of the Rings thing was kind of a scam, really.”

Sure enough, the latest round of travel stories about Cartagena, where the movie is set, are already landing. And with them come the first bad Garcia Marquez puns, playing off this title and others. From the Times of London:

Colombia certainly needs a bit of good PR. The distinctly ugly realism of internal conflict and drug trafficking has ruined the country’s appeal for tourists for many years now. It hasn’t quite endured one hundred years of solitude but it might just as well have been gripped by cholera.

The movie could mean a serious tourist influx for Colombia. Movie tourism is big business—New Zealand is the star example, but Wyoming (and Alberta) also made the most of the Brokeback Mountain hype, and last year I visited a lesser-known English castle that was cashing in with “Harry Spotter” tours.

Cartagena, according to this story in USA Today, is readying itself for the post-“Cholera” influx. Cruise ships are returning. Boutique hotels are sprouting up.

Forget “hipster escape”, Colombia could be skipping straight back into the tourist mainstream.

Photo by *L*u*z*a* AWAY, via Flickr (Creative Commons)