The Future of Santa Veronica
Nestled along Colombia's Caribbean coast, Santa Veronica is a paradise for those who practice the sport of kitesurfing. With ideal conditions, foreigners travel from all over the world for a chance to surf the waves of Salinas del Rey, a nearby beach with wind blowing between 25 and 35 knots from December to the end of April. Located just an hour from two major airports, Cartagena and Barranquilla, many business owners are taking advantage of sports tourism. Recent economic growth has led the Colombian government to invest in a sports center on the sand dunes of Salinas del Rey. Although there is interest in development, it is crucial to examine the impact of sports tourism on the local economy, the environmental issues at hand, and if the town is headed in the right direction.
Santa Veronica resides within the municipality of Juan de Acosta, which has a population of 17,000 people. According to the Gobernación de Atlantico, about 8,000 international tourists visited Juan de Acosta in 2021, likely because of the wind conditions suitable for kitesurfing and other water sports. Kitesurf enthusiast Tyler Johnson travels every year from the U.S. to Colombia because of the connections he has made and his love for the sport. "Santa Veronica for me, it’s the wind and the community that I love. That combination will always keep me coming back,” Johnson says.
The town has received international recognition for its wind patterns. In March, Santa Veronica hosted the World Championship of the Global Kitesurf Association (GKA) for the second time, bringing in competitors from 13 countries. Undersecretary of Tourism of the Atlantic, Pamela Lozano is quoted saying, “The commitment to promote sports tourism and all the efforts of the Governor to give greater relevance to tourism will have a great impact on the welfare of the community and the promotion of the Atlantic as a destination."
To learn more about whether hosting the GKA helped local businesses in the area, Nicolas Ordoñez, owner of a hotel called Brees, explains his experience with tourism during the tournament. Ordoñez noticed that rather than seeing a spike in bookings during the tournament, the occupancy rate stayed the same. “The people that were staying here long term wanted to leave during that time because having more people kitesurfing wasn’t appealing,” Ordoñez says. He did not consider the event as a leverage to occupation rates. Fabián Jiménez, owner of La Verduleria, a local fruit market for 28 years in Santa Veronica, believes that sports tourism has helped his business during the kite season because foreigners buy more fruits and vegetables. However, in terms of the GKA and other kite events at Salinas del Rey, he believes the government is not supporting the local businesses in the center of Santa Veronica. “The kite surf event is independent of Santa Veronica. We would like to see more promotion of business in the town and for Santa Veronica to be more united to the event,” says Jiménez.
Photos taken by Brees
Because of events such as the GKA, the Colombian government has decided to build a sports center on the beach of Salinas del Rey. The construction area is over two thousand square meters with an investment of 25 billion pesos, or just over five million U.S. dollars. The center will include classrooms, tourist information offices, bathrooms, administrative areas, restaurants, and a terrace. Ordoñez believes that this center could be a positive investment in the town and has the potential to generate extra traffic for tourism. Resident of Santa Veronica, Edgardo Gonzalez believes the development of the town is going in the right direction and projects like the sports center could attract more tourists. “Santa Veronica holds a lot of future development in sports tourism. I imagine in one year to come it will be a more developed town in sports and construction. This could include creating a gas station and a supermarket,” Gonzalez says.
Although sports tourism in Santa Veronica can help bring economic stability to the local economy, there are various infrastructural and environmental concerns. For one, running a business that relies on a wind season means that although bookings are high for a few months out of the year, many hotels are forced to close during low season, creating instability. Ordoñez explains, “To reach our highest potential economically, Santa Veronica needs to keep an occupation similar to Cartagena. Cartagena is all year round with a 75 percent occupation rate which is high. Santa Veronica should try to find strategies to do the same.” He also believes that the government should support creating better roads, better public services, beach cleanups, as well as developing tourism in other sports outside of kite surfing. Jiménez reports that his fruit market still maintains itself outside of the kite surf season but business is noticeably slower, which is a difficult aspect of working in tourism.
Santa Veronica’s future of economic growth and opportunity could also be determined by how the town tackles the noticeable waste management issue. Every day, garbage washes up on the shores of Santa Veronica from a nearby body of water, the Magdalena River. Johnson says, “My heart breaks the most when I see the beaches and how much potential the area has but to see it disheveled with garbage.” He hopes there is a way to start working towards a solution if the area really wants to take off in the proper direction. The answer is not that simple as Ordoñez says that it is difficult for the small businesses to manage the waste issue, and it needs to be in the hands of the government. “We don't have businesses to the size that can dispose of all the garbage. Making it easy to dispose of garbage could make life easier and have people that clean the streets as jobs,” says Ordoñez. Lack of clean beaches can prevent tourists from visiting the town, but the problem is not unique to Santa Veronica. Colombian native, Andrea Sanchez speaks upon the trash issue by saying, “It’s the same issue in the whole of Colombia. There is no culture for waste management in general.”
Ultimately, sports tourism could help the town of Santa Veronica grow economically and socially. The presence of the GKA tournament as well as the government’s plans for a sports center proves that there is an interest in the future of the town. However, relying on a short wind season, a lack of inclusion of local businesses in the town center, and dealing with a waste problem could cause setbacks for the community. It is undeniable that Santa Veronica houses impeccable wind conditions that are difficult to find elsewhere. “This location, as a water sport enthusiast, is one of the best locations in the world,” says Ordoñez. Santa Veronica’s wind is second to none, but the future of the town’s economic growth could be determined by the conversations and decisions that the community chooses today.