Wearing Bluetooth headphones, Joseph, a 45-year-old New Yorker, scrolls through his customer files on the screen of his MacBook Pro. The marketing entrepreneur orders his coffee in Spanish, then continues the conversation in English with the manager, Peter, a Hungarian who is also in his forties. A regular at Café Revolucion, Joseph the American says: “I often work here. The atmosphere is relaxed, the Internet is fast. And, what’s more, the coffee is excellent!” He is not the only “digital nomad” – people whose job allows them to work from anywhere in the world thanks to new technologies – to start their work week at a table in this café. Here, half of the customers are typing away on their laptops. Some of them actually live in this Laureles neighborhood, in the west of the city center. With its flower-filled terraces, shaded paths and bohemian atmosphere, it is a haven for expatriates – American or European.
Medellin is indeed the new promised land for traveling professionals. According to a study by the consulting agency Breakthrough, more than 8,000 of them set down their suitcases there each month. According to the specialized site Nomad List, Medellin is the 3rd most visited city in Latin America by digital nomads in 2024, behind Mexico City and Buenos Aires. The 23rd worldwide, surpassing European capitals like Rome or Vienna. “The climate is perfect, travel is easy and if you earn your living in dollars, your purchasing power is very comfortable,” lists Joseph, who arrived here ten years ago – he has never left.
In the past, the massive presence of these international workers would have been unimaginable. At 1,500 meters above sea level in the Andes mountain range, the country’s second city after Bogota has long suffered from a terrible reputation. “For tourists, Medellín was the city of narcos,” explains Ana Maria Palacio Lopera, in charge of tourism at the chamber of commerce. “Foreigners were afraid to come.” Between 1990 and 1996, there were more than 4,000 murders per year. The war raged between the authorities and the henchmen of Pablo Escobar (eliminated in 1993 by the anti-drug police). The homicide rate was more than 200 per 100,000 inhabitants! In 2012, the annual number of murders still exceeded 1,200 according to official data. Since then, the metropolis of 2.6 million has been transformed. By 2023, the homicide rate had fallen to 12.9 per 100,000 people, and gang violence was no longer a major problem.
From the city of Pablo Escobar to that of Karol G
With modern infrastructure, the only metro in Colombia, a major urban transport system – including six “metrocable” (cable car) lines – and many green spaces, Medellín is even one of the most attractive cities in Latin America. With the help of videos shot in the streets of their adolescence, reggaeton stars (Karol G, Maluma, J. Balvin, etc.) promote its gentle way of life.
Renowned for its universities, it is also known for the dynamism of its entrepreneurs. “Medellín was an industrial city where textiles were very important,” says Ana Maria Palacio Lopera. “Today, it is focused on services. Leisure is one of the driving forces of the local economy.” The tourism sector now generates 7% of the city’s GDP and more than 90,000 jobs.
On the heights of Poblado, an upscale and very touristy neighborhood, Ricky, a thirty-something, welcomes visitors behind the counter of his youth hostel with a turquoise facade. Every day, he is surprised by the tourist influx: “Since the end of the pandemic, I have always been full or almost. My customers are mainly young people: Americans, French, Germans.” 1.2 million visitors passed through “the city of eternal spring” in 2023, an increase of 50% compared to 2019, before the pandemic. The metropolis even appears on the list of 50 places to visit published by Time Magazine in 2023, alongside sites such as the pyramids of Egypt.
But there is another side to the coin. In Laureles, housing for indigenous people is giving way to Airbnbs and gentrification is going full steam ahead. “The neighborhood has changed too much,” regrets Hungarian Peter. “I inquired about an apartment across the street from mine that is barely bigger: the rent is double.” For his part, New Yorker Joseph fears that his neighborhood will turn into “a second El Poblado, a neighborhood where no one lives on a daily basis anymore.”
Sex tourism
In this other part of Medellín, the excesses of tourism are obvious. At nightfall, Lleras Park is transformed into an open-air brothel. Prostitutes and dealers approach foreigners there, a few meters from the bars and nightclubs that live to the rhythm of reggaeton hits. “Ten years ago, we could sit here quietly to drink a beer without being disturbed,” Ricky remembers. “Now, it’s a place dedicated to sex.” In Colombia, adult prostitution is not prohibited. But today, the sexual exploitation of minors worries the authorities.
This year, sordid cases involving foreigners have multiplied. For example, a 36-year-old American was discovered in a jacuzzi at the Gotham Hotel with two girls aged 12 and 13. The scandal has shaken the entire city. “Those who think they can come here and do whatever they want with our children and teenagers are seriously mistaken,” fumed conservative mayor Federico Gutierrez. In the process, he signed an ordinance banning prostitution in El Poblado. And the opening hours of party venues around the park have been limited – until 1 a.m. only.
Less than a month after these measures came into force, a notice on the front clearly indicates the administrative closure of the Gotham Hotel. And, at nightfall, police officers check the age of partygoers at the entrance to the public garden. But inside, the girls are still there. And the surrounding bars have obtained exemptions: most open until 4 a.m. That evening, among the tourists, a police officer can be seen followed by a television crew reporting. Seeing this scene, Miguel, a waiter in a bar next to the park, laughs: “This ban thing is a big joke. The girls are here and they’re going to stay there. The police know perfectly well that this activity brings in a lot, a lot of money.”
The municipality is, however, becoming aware of the scale of the problem. “There is a type of visitor who comes to Medellin only to indulge in what is forbidden or inaccessible in their country,” points out Carlos Calle, from the city’s Tourism Observatory. “But Medellin is not just about girls, drugs and partying. We want to change that image.” The municipality and the chamber of commerce are working to develop new, more family-friendly tourist areas. “Tourism can still bring many positive things to Medellin, but it must not ‘kill’ the city,” reasons the sector’s manager Ana Maria Palacio Lopera. Medellin, victim of its success! Who would have imagined it twenty years ago?
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