Implemented by the Ministries of Education and Culture, the initiative is part of president Juan Manuel Santos’s Government Plan for Democratic Prosperity outlining 110 objectives to boost employment and the economy.

President Santos confirmed that the campaign takes advantage of the country’s linguistic reputation. “That’s why we established becoming the best Spanish language destination as one of our government objectives.”

We will turn Colombia into the largest destination in Latin America to learn Spanish as a second language

Initiative 61 states: “Based on our well-earned reputation of speaking the best Spanish in the world, we will combine the strength and reputation of the Instituto Caro y Cuervo with universities and private companies to turn Colombia into the largest destination in Latin America to learn Spanish as a second language.”

An estimated 1,800 international students, mostly from South East Asia, go to Colombia to study Spanish every year but the government is keen to double that figure by 2014. Marketing is already underway targeting students at study abroad fairs in Brazil, Jamaica and along the east coast of the USA.

With 20 of the 43 SICELE licensed Spanish teaching institutes in Latin America, Colombia is well placed to compete for students. However, said José Luis Acosta, Director of the Instituto Caro y Cuervo (ICC), an entity under the Ministry of Culture charged with conducting scientific research in the fields of linguistics, philology, literature, the humanities and the history of Colombian culture says in order to increase numbers, centres will have to decrease costs.

“In Mexico and Argentina for example courses are up to 30% more economical,” he said.

Marketing for the campaign is centred around a web portal launched earlier this month in four languages listing universities that offer Spanish as a Foreign Language (ELE) courses including Universidad Nacional, Universidad de los Andes and Escuela de Ingeniería de Antioquia.

A web portal launched earlier this month in four languages listing universities that offer Spanish as a Foreign Language (ELE) courses

The site also provides learning resources for Spanish teachers and cultural, industrial and tourism information about the country.

“The objective is that people interested in learning our language can find the information about the programmes, costs, duration and location all in one place,” said Acosta.

“Twenty-four hours after launching the platform we had 4,000 visits, that’s 30 per minute. The idea is to attract 200,000 people in the next three months,” he added.

The project will also be promoted on social media networks and through the country’s unified brand and slogan “La respuesta es Colombia/The Answer is Colombia” established in 2011 to advertise Colombian industry and tourism globally.