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For decades, Peace Through Tourismhas largely existed on the margins of global tourism policy—celebrated in conference speeches, academic discussions and occasional destination marketing campaigns, but rarely embedded in national tourism strategy.
That may have changed.
With the publication of the OECD Tourism Trends and Policies 2026(PDF) report on 1 July, one of the world’s most influential economic policy organizations has effectively elevated Facilitating a Culture of Peace Through Tourisminto mainstream tourism policy by highlighting Colombia’s comprehensive national strategy as a model worthy of international attention.
The significance extends well beyond Colombia.
It marks the first time that an OECD member has presented Peace Through Tourismnot merely as a symbolic aspiration but as a measurable tourism development program with dedicated investment, branding, institutional support and documented economic outcomes.
A Remarkable Transformation
Few countries illustrate tourism’s transformative power better than Colombia.
For decades, international headlines associated the country with drug cartels, armed conflict and security concerns. Large areas of the country remained inaccessible to both domestic and international visitors.
Today, Colombia has become one of Latin America’s fastest-growing tourism destinations, welcoming a record 7.1 million international visitors in 2024, according to the OECD. Tourism now contributes 2.2% of national Gross Value Added, supports nearly 900,000 jobs, and accounts for almost half of Colombia’s service exports.
But economic recovery tells only part of the story. The OECD identifies one policy priority above all others:
Facilitating a culture of peace through tourism.
Rather than treating tourism simply as an economic sector, Colombia positions it as an instrument for reconciliation, social inclusion and territorial reconstruction.
Tourism as Social Reconstruction
According to the OECD report, Colombia’s strategy seeks to strengthen communities previously affected by decades of armed conflict through tourism experiences that:
- preserve historical memory,
- strengthen local economies,
- promote a culture of peace,
- rebuild the social fabric.
The numbers demonstrate that this is far more than a marketing slogan.
The OECD reports that:
- more than USD 4 millionhas been invested;
- over 480 tourism enterprises and productive unitshave entered tourism supply chains;
- beneficiaries include victims of armed conflict, former combatants, demobilized persons and communities replacing illicit crop production;
- 774 entrepreneurshave earned authorization to use the “Colombia, Destinations of Peace”label;
- 903 peace-related tourism businesseshave been cataloged;
- 100 tourism experienceshave been strengthened;
- four Peace and Memory Tourism Corridorshave been created;
- a national Tourism Network of Destinations of Peacehas been established.
No other OECD country profile presents such a comprehensive Peace Through Tourism framework.
More Than a Seal
Colombia’s peace tourism initiative did not emerge overnight.
The OECD notes that peace tourism has been part of Colombian tourism policy since 2014.
International recognition accelerated during ITB Berlin 2023, when Colombia’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism unveiled the “Colombia: Destinations of Peace”seal.
The certification draws inspiration from the Paz Naciente(“Nascent Peace”) flower ( Elaeagia pacisnasci ), discovered in El Peñón, Santander—a region once considered inaccessible because of armed conflict.
The flower became a symbol of territories reopening not only to visitors but also to opportunity, investment and reconciliation.
Why the OECD Recognition Matters
The OECD does not endorse tourism marketing campaigns.
Its biennial Tourism Trends and Policies report serves as one of the world’s principal policy references for governments developing tourism strategies.
When the organization identifies a national policy as a priority reform, ministries around the world take notice.
This effectively gives international legitimacy to an approach long advocated by organizations such as the International Institute for Peace through Tourism but seldom incorporated into mainstream government tourism planning.
In doing so, the OECD is quietly redefining tourism’s role.
Instead of measuring success solely through arrivals, spending and hotel occupancy, tourism becomes an instrument for rebuilding communities, restoring trust and strengthening social cohesion.
A Different Way of Thinking About Destinations
The implications reach far beyond Colombia.
As geopolitical tensions, regional conflicts and social polarization increasingly affect travel, destinations may begin identifying and developing Peace Tourism assetsthat have often existed without coherent interpretation.
Potential examples include:
- former battlefields transformed into places of reconciliation;
- war cemeteries;
- museums documenting conflict and recovery;
- UNESCO World Heritage Sites celebrating intercultural dialogue;
- national parks protecting shared natural heritage;
- pilgrimage and spiritual routes;
- cross-border peace parks;
- indigenous cultural landscapes;
- memorial trails;
- former conflict regions undergoing regeneration.
Many destinations already possess these assets.
Few have organized them within an explicit peace-building framework.
An Industry Slow to Confront Conflict
Ironically, tourism has always been among the first industries to suffer when peace collapses.
Wars, terrorism, political instability and social unrest immediately reduce visitor confidence.
Yet tourism organizations have traditionally avoided discussing the causes of conflict.
Subjects such as war, nationalism, religious extremism and geopolitical confrontation have often been dismissed as “political issues” lying outside tourism’s mandate.
The prevailing assumption held that tourism could respond to peace—but not contribute to creating it.
Colombia challenges that assumption.
Its strategy suggests tourism can become part of conflict recovery itself.
Earlier OECD References
The OECD has previously acknowledged links between tourism and peace.
Past reports referenced Ireland’s tourism development following the Good Friday peace process and discussed opportunities surrounding improved relations on the Korean Peninsula and tourism near the Demilitarized Zone.
Those mentions, however, remained isolated observations.
Colombia represents something fundamentally different.
Peace Through Tourism is integrated into national tourism planning, supported with investment, measurable indicators, branding, entrepreneurship programs and destination development.
That makes it the OECD’s clearest endorsement yet of tourism as an instrument of peace-building rather than merely a beneficiary of peace.
A Turning Point?
The OECD’s recognition may prove to be a watershed moment.
As governments search for tourism models delivering social as well as economic value, Colombia’s experience offers a practical blueprint.
If replicated elsewhere, tourism policy could increasingly encompass reconciliation, inclusion, historical memory and community resilience alongside traditional goals of visitor growth and investment.
For an industry that has spent decades describing itself as a “force for peace,” the challenge now becomes far more concrete:
Can tourism move beyond rhetoric and become an active contributor to building more peaceful societies?
According to the OECD’s latest assessment, Colombia has already begun answering that question.
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