3.3.1. Tourism value chain analysis

Taganga

It is a typical fishing territory, located just 5 kilometers from Santa Marta. Its surroundings are part of the Tayrona National Natural Park and can be reached by land in public transport, from the center of Santa Marta. Most of the diving centers of Santa Marta are concentrated in the place, and in the vicinity, some sites of tremendous importance to develop the activity such as Cala Granate and Isla Aguja.

Playa Grande:

Five minutes from Taganga by boat there is Playa Grande, a beautiful sandy beach and crystal clear waters where you can find kiosks to enjoy the scenery while tasting delicious seafood. It can also be reached by land by walking through the hills in a journey of between 30 and 45 minutes.

It is important to highlight the existence of the SITUR "Tourism Information System of Magdalena and Santa Marta". The system was created in 2015, it was an important advance for the sector, however, it must be said that local tourism organizations have a bad perception of the functioning of this statistical system in terms of the quality, specificity, reliability, and methodological rigor of the information. The publication of information is also not constant, so it is not reliable for analysis or decision-making.(Vargas Leira, 2017) In addition, another great effort made by the local government to promote Santa Marta as a tourist destination and as a good place to invest, was a city branding exercise. It created the brand "Santa Marta Naturally Magic" in 2018 but, despite the work done, the brand is not used by tourism providers, only public entities and some local organizations use it in their publications and events. It is worth to mention that increasing the number of international travelers in Santa Marta has been a goal of the regional government since 2012 (MinComercio, 2012). However, there is no indicators to define whether the objective has been achieved. Considering national statistics, the region received 31,618 foreign visitors in 2019 but other competing destinations, such as Cartagena and San Andrés received 530,177 and 98,603 visitors, respectively (CITUR - MinCit, 2020). By comparing these numbers, it can be concluded that, despite its beautiful and unique resources, Santa Marta is not positioned in the international tourism market and must improve and strengthen its tourism promotion, although first or simultaneously, it must plan and implement strategies that aim to improve its tourism competitiveness and achieve the sustainable use of ecosystems, biodiversity and cultural and historical heritage of the city.

3.3.1. Tourism value chain analysis.

According to information from the National Tourism Registry, 5,969 companies and persons dedicated to the provision of tourism services as main activity have required and received registration as tourism provider in the District of Santa Marta. However, by the end of 2020, only 2,788 of those companies were reported as Active in the Chamber of Commerce (FONTUR, 2020). According to the survey of characterization of tourism service providers carried out within the research, the tourism supply chain has the following structure: 44% of this population corresponds to sole proprietorships or natural persons, 47% correspond to companies with less than ten workers, 7% to companies with between 11 and 50 workers and 2% to companies above 51 workers (See Figure 3).