The "worldwide best spanish" is looking for new customers

Colombia wants to position itself as an attractive destination for foreigners to learn the spanish language

In Colombia is speaking the best spanish in the world. Base don this belief, government built an ambitious strategy to make the country the best destination in the world for foreigners who want to learn the language. Conditions are created: Colombia has 22 of the 42 institutions that teach spanish in Latin America. Also, academic potential is huge: is estimated that by 2030 about 535 million people (85 million more tan today) speak spanish, ie 7,5 % of the world population.

But even though we have everything to be a spanish power we are not competitive yet. We Excel by far, Mexico, Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Guatemala, who were able to capitalize on this market, estimated at about 18 million students annually.

There are several factors that have less attractive, including the cost. To study spanish in Colombia is almost 30% more expensive tan others countries. A course of four to six months costs between 4 and 7 million pesos (3000 USD). Factors like visa procedures sometimes are tedious, making it difficult to access.

These weaknesses are being reviewed by the government´s strategy, which is already underway at consulates and international educational fairs. One of first steps was the creation of portal www.spanishincolombia.gov.co, now registers over 70,000 visits. On this spot, universities provide information about costs, duration and structure of their courses. In addition, prospective students find information about the culture and tourism in the different cites. Finally, texts, photos and videos about how to live in Colombia.

The initial goal of the plan is to go from 1,500 foreigners coming to the country to learn spanish each year from Germany, France and the UK, among others, to 3,000.