Most visitors to Medellín see the modern skyline, enjoy its buzzing nightlife, and marvel at its lush landscapes. This is all well and good, but to truly know the city, you’ve got to do more than just surface-level tourism. To truly know Medellin and the many beautiful things it offers, you’ve got to get into the barrios — where the city’s heart beats the strongest.
That’s where Barrio Impact Tours come in. These tours offer more than just a glimpse of what it is like to live in the city of eternal spring, inviting you to walk its streets, interact with its people, and experience the city in its fullness. But these tours don’t just impact the tourist. Barrio impact tours also benefit the local communities that host them. Below are some of the majority of those benefits.
One example of our barrio impact tours is our One Day Tour of Medellin – where your purchase supports 2 barrios (Comuna 13 and Barrio Pablo Escobar).
Supporting Local Communities
Unlike traditional tours, where most of the spending is done on large corporations—chain hotels and restaurants for example—barrio impact tours focus on community-owned businesses. This support for local business ensures that money generated during these tours returns to the community rather than lining the pockets of some distant corporate executive.
A New Perspective on Medellín
Many visitors arrive in Medellín with a limited view of the city. This is often due to preconceived notions due to the city’s turbulent history, a misconception that is quite understandable. Nothing changes this idea better than barrio impact tours. Known for challenging tourists’ perception of the city, these tours offer a deeper and more authentic experience of what life is like in the streets of Colombia’s most dynamic neighborhood.
This shift in perspective that barrio impact tours produce helps improve Medellin’s reputation as the city of resilience and progress.
Giving Back Through Tourism
One of the most rewarding aspects of barrio impact tours is knowing that your visit helps fund vital community projects. One of the biggest criticisms of traditional tourism is its rather exploitative nature; wealthy foreigners use local communities for their relaxation and entertainment without giving anything in return. Barrio impact tours are designed to fix this issue by creating a system where tourism itself gives back to the community.
With barrio impact tours, there is a huge emphasis on giving back. Typically, a portion of tour proceeds go towards supporting education programs, urban art initiatives, and social projects aimed at empowering the youth in the community. Many tours go beyond just that though, with some tours even organizing activities like volunteer opportunities where tourists can get involved and actively help build the local community.
Barrio Impact Tours — An Unforgettable Experience
Barrio impact tours are more than just a tour, they are an opportunity to truly connect with, and give back to, the local community you are visiting. It offers more than just the curated, heavily doctored experience of traditional tourism, introducing you to the complete, authentic beauty of the local experience. It’s an experience you will not be forgetting anytime soon.
Book Your Barrio Impact Tour Today
Looking to experience one of these barrio impact tours yourself? At Medellin Tours, we host guided Medellin barrio impact tours every day. Come explore the other sides of Medellin where most of the city’s inhabitants actually live.
