Colombia’s tourism accommodation sector ended the first half of 2026 on a lower note than the overall economy, reports indicate. The country’s hotels had an average occupancy of 47.4 percent, 1.7 percentage points down on the 49.0 percent recorded in the same period of 2025, and 3.4 points below the 52.4 percent of 2022, according to the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE), which publishes the Monthly Accommodation Survey (EMA).
Among the twelve regions covered by the EMA, eight had lower occupancy rates than a year ago, illustrating the widespread nature of the phenomenon. Fewer visitors also meant fewer revenues for the sector, which dropped 6.8 percent in real terms compared to the first half of 2025, according to the national hotel association.
The trend contrasts with the broader economy, which grew 2.9 percent in the first half of 2026, compared to an annual contraction of 3.0 percent in the accommodation and food services branch. In the second quarter, the two halves saw a greater differential: total GDP grew 3.5 percent, compared to contraction of 4.0 percent for the above-mentioned branch. In contrast to overall GDP growth of 7.7 percent recorded for Colombia in 2022, the accommodation and food-service sub-account still grew at a rate of -1.8 percent: a trend, industry figures say, which has not benefited equally formal lodging establishments, which include large and small hotels, plus aparthotels, hostels, holiday resorts, rural tourism accommodations and camping sites.
The same pattern applied to employment in the sector, which was down 4.5 percent compared to the first half of 2025. Among the twelve regions surveyed, eleven registered a net reduction in formal jobs for the period.
Industry representatives say that these figures, which represent the sixth consecutive year of decline for the sector, constitute an urgent appeal to the new administration, currently led by President Abelardo de la Espriella , which must take measures to spur demand and take steps to level the playing field between formal and informal operators in the face of a highly competitive environment that features a strongly undervalued currency (the peso, which trades at around 3,000 for a single dollar).
Industry representatives believe that, in addition to the informal supply cushioned by the dollar’s low value, another factor suppressing demand for tourism accommodation is the tax and institutional asymmetry between the two categories of operators. While the national association counts 503,000 beds in tourist homes, it estimates that there are another 512,000 in non-formalized, non-registered hotels.
The security situation in certain areas continues to be a factor that affects this situation, especially taking into consideration the consequences of the natural disaster that occurred in these regions in mid-August. The association asked the government to implement measures that promote regularization and facilitate and accelerate the adoption of specific measures for the hotel-restaurant industry, including correcting fiscal and regulatory imbalances and strengthening control and oversight of the unregulated lodging sector.
With eight of every twelve surveyed regions seeing lower occupancy, the figures point to a persistent challenge for formal operations, where lower revenues have fueled reductions in employment and which must contend with informal operators, which enjoy advantages in several areas and continue to have more demand, at least at the regional level.
