Visit sunny Colombia!

This one is puzzling. American Airlines is promoting flights to Colombia.

The photo is inviting, to be sure—it makes this corner of Colombia look a little like Florence transplanted to the seashore. Still, is Colombia really a hot new vacation destination? American Airlines seems to think so: Bogota is one of only a handful of cities mentioned by name on their Travel Deals page, along with Montego Bay and Steamboat Springs.

Lonely Planet, the go-to guide for adventurous travelers, sends a mixed message. Their country summary begins on an upbeat note.

Colombia’s back. After decades of civil conflict, Colombia is now safe to visit and travelers are discovering what they’ve been missing. The diversity of the country may astonish you.

Here’s the second to last paragraph:

In darker days people used to say, ‘if only it weren’t for the violence and drugs, Colombia would be paradise.’ Well the drugs may still be here but the violence is gone, at least for now, and it is, indeed, paradise.

But in the very last paragraph, there’s this.

Travel Alert: Travelers should exercise vigilance at all times due to the level of violent crime. Although kidnapping and homicide rates in urban areas have dropped in recent years, they remain high.

Hmmm.

I’ll assume that American Airlines is not trying to drum up business among drug lords. Then what’s going on? Maybe they’re appealing to the Lonely Planet crowd (though backpackers are not a very lucrative market). Maybe the Colombia poster is meant to signal that they’re an international airline, not just “American.” I’m not sure.