Colombians have a passion for watching the Tricolor play and for the scoreboard to end in our favor. In particular, soccer in Colombia has a broad economic impact and this time Barranquilla was the city that witnessed the direct dynamism of approximately 25,000 visitors to match dispute between the Colombian National Soccer Team against the Paraguayan National Team for the qualification to the 2026 World Cup.
The Chamber of Commerce of Barranquilla (CCB) foresees an economic impact of $36,000 million pesos in the city, a higher figure when compared to the economic estimates of the Colombia vs. Chile match played in October 2024 in the same city and for World Cup qualifiers ($21,000 million). However, Barranquilla is undoubtedly an epicenter of sports tourism. Starting with box office takings, based on total capacity of 46,692 spectators at Estadio Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez, figure exceeds $13 billion pesos.
In addition, Barranquilla expects bars and gastrobars to register increases of 60% over a normal day, restaurants an increase of 30% and commercial retail stores an increase of 25%. The District Mayor’s Office projects that on average each visitor will spend 5 million pesos, distributed as follows: transportation (29%), lodging (26%), commerce (22%), food and beverages (14%) and entertainment (10%) according to the CCB.From the arrival of 25. Of the 25,000 visitors arriving by air, an increase of 1,900 visitors was projected over daily average, one day before and game´s day; by land, an increase of 15% in arrival of vehicles was estimated, according to Metropolitan Transportation Terminal.
As for hotel occupancy, the District Mayor’s Office estimates that it will reach 89%, with the main hotels at full capacity based on historical data. The figures differ slightly according to the vision of Cotelco Atlántico, as it estimates an occupancy of 85% in lodging and accommodation establishments. Cotelco’s initial figures were around 65%, since the date of the match was very close to Easter and there was a previous planning by households prioritizing the latter instead of the match. However, projections have been upward, given the higher occupancy observed.
An aspect that also achieved a better projection was the fact that the match coincided with the long weekend, which allowed several people to take advantage of holidays to come to Barranquilla. Indirectly, economic impact is also directed to tourism sector. It is no stranger to the economic effort that Barranquilla has had to recognize itself as a modern and attractive city. Direct investment of more than USD 550 million in 2024 is just one example of the support Barranquilla has received to develop infrastructure projects and tourist attractions. Among these are Window of the World, Great Malecon, Shark Fin, beaches of Puerto Mocho, among others.
In short, these resources drive key sectors of local economy, boosting trade, tourism and gastronomy. Sales grew as well as influx of the public in strategic points of Barranquilla.
