Colombia, a country renowned for its cultural, historical, and natural wealth, offers a wide range of tourist attractions that connect its unique heritage and landscapes with travelers' expectations. The Cartagena de Indias-Santa Cruz de Mompox tourist route exemplifies this richness, combining colonial charm, biodiversity, and cultural traditions. This study focuses on analyzing this route's tourism value chain, aiming to identify key areas for optimization, enhancing regional competitiveness, and fostering inclusive and sustainable tourism.

The main objective of this research is to explore the components of the tourism value chain, prioritize strategic localities, and evaluate factors that improve processes and sustainability within the region. The study utilized an exploratory and descriptive methodology, which included documentary analysis, surveys with key stakeholders in the tourism sector, and digital mapping to identify and rank locations based on their tourist appeal. Furthermore, the “Scoring” multicriteria decision-making method was employed to construct a prioritization matrix that evaluated factors such as infrastructure, accessibility, promotion, population density, and visitor volume.

The findings present a promising outlook for the region's tourism development. The study revealed that the infrastructure and essential services along the route are well-developed, supporting an enjoyable visitor experience. The prioritized localities showcase a wealth of natural and cultural attractions, providing a strong tourism foundation. However, significant gaps were identified in destination promotion, with many stakeholders indicating insufficient marketing efforts to attract potential visitors. Additionally, there needs to be more training for local residents in providing tourism services, limiting their ability to deliver high-quality experiences. While global trends such as sustainable tourism, eco-innovation, and wellness tourism align with the region's strengths, safety concerns persist among certain visitors. Despite these challenges, the region's potential remains significant, particularly with opportunities to integrate community-based tourism initiatives, strengthen marketing strategies, and invest in infrastructure that caters to emerging global trends. Furthermore, leveraging digital tools like mobile applications and augmented reality can modernize the visitor experience and attract tech-savvy travelers.

The conclusions emphasize the necessity of developing robust promotional strategies to enhance the route's visibility and strengthen its competitive edge. Simultaneously, efforts to train local communities in tourism services are vital to ensure the delivery of exceptional experiences, creating an inclusive and sustainable tourism model that benefits both residents and visitors. Additionally, incorporating global trends such as regenerative tourism, which aims to restore ecosystems and reduce environmental impact, offers an opportunity for the route to position itself as a leader in innovative and responsible tourism. This study demonstrates the potential of the Cartagena-Mompox route to become a model of sustainable tourism development in Colombia, fostering regional economic growth, improving the quality of life for local communities, and setting a benchmark for innovation and environmental stewardship.