Hard Sell.

Cartagena woos new visitors.

IN A PREVIOUS LIFETIME, TRAVELERS REGULARLY stopped in Cartagena, arguably one of Latin America's most beautiful port cities. But Colombia's widespread tales of drug traffickers, uncontrollable crime and political violence for years have claimed a toll on this tourist mecca of 850,000 inhabitants. Now the local tourist industry has done the improbable: it has convinced visitors to return.

"Cartagena is such a safe city but Colombia doesn't have the best image," says Eva Maria Campo Bartoskova, director of sales and marketing for the Cartagena Hilton Hotel. As evidence of that flagging reputation, arrivals of foreign visitors slumped from a high of 375,038 in 1994 to just 123,717 in 1998, according to the local tourist office. But there are signs of a turnaround.

Indeed, Cartagena should be a tourist gold mine. It offers hot weather and ocean breezes, bargain-price accommodations, Caribbean beaches and architecture that reflects its rich history. The restored colonial buildings in the old quarter are ringed by massive walls built centuries ago to keep out marauders like Sir Francis Drake, who was once given 10 million pesos not to burn the city to the ground. The colonial neighborhood appears on the Unesco World Heritage list.

Cartagena is "a beautiful place" and a very good value," says vacationing British lawyer Stuart Fisher.

Apparently the city's charms are again catching the fancy of travelers. In 1999, nearly 156,000 foreign tourists arrived--a nearly 27% jump over the previous year. They joined 380,000 Colombians who traveled to the resort city. Tentative figures for 2000 showed a small increase as well.

Hotels say their occupancy rates rose last year. The five-star Hilton, for example, reached a 61% occupancy rate in 2000, compared to 52% in 1999. Several of the three-and four-star hotels reported 86% to 90% occupancy rates in 2000.

Beer and bytes. The boost isn't accidental. Susy Romero de Lanner, director of sales at the Hotel Capilla del Mar, says a recent marketing campaign aimed at international tourists distinguishes Cartagena's geographical position on the Caribbean coast with that of the troubled interior. And last August's visit by then-U.S. President Bill Clinton sparked a flurry of positive media coverage.

Dirk Seiffert, an expatriate German whose Internet cafe CaribeNet provides customers cold German beer and computers, describes his adopted hometown as an "island of peace" where even guerrillas have been known to spend their R&R. "There have been Germans [tourists] killed in Miami", he says. 'That's never happened here."

Another welcome development came last year when weekly charter flights were launched from Italy. Limited international air service hinders the tourist trade; many foreign vacationers are unwilling to fly into Bogota to switch planes.

Moreover, cruise ships have slowly begun to return, increasing from just five in 1990 to 147 in 1999, the year that saw nearly 169,000 cruise passengers exploring the city. This year, several companies--Cunard, Carnival, Radisson Seven Seas and Celebrity Cruises--are expected to drop anchor, says Yezid Meneses Rumie of the local tourism office.

"We would never call at any destination that would be unsafe for our guests," says Jennifer de la Cruz, a spokeswoman for Carnival Cruise Lines. "That would be foolish."

Tourism officials estimate cruise passengers spend US$100 each on emeralds, handicrafts and souvenirs. But some merchants complain they are not benefiting. CaribeNet's Seiffert, for example, says the tourists tend to take guided bus tours that bypass the historic quarter; instead they shop in jewelry stores in the modern Bocagrande district, a neighborhood he calls "a copy of Miami Beach."

"The money stays in Cartagena, which isn't bad," says Seiffert. "But it could be better for small businesses."

Cartagena's struggle to lure tourists was handed a setback when the U.S. State Department in April issued an advisory warning U.S. citizens not to travel to Colombia.

Patricia Restrepo, an executive at the Hotel Caribe, concedes that even with the best marketing campaigns, there is only one way to guarantee a strong tourist market. "The best thing for tourism in Cartagena," she says, "would be peace everywhere in Colombia."