Rosario Ortiz Conde: the voice that narrates tourism with ethics, identity, and commitment

Rosario Ortiz Conde’s path to travel journalism was neither linear nor planned. Like many profound transformations, it emerged during a period of forced stillness and inner searching. In early 2020, when the world was going through one of the most uncertain times in its recent history, an unexpected invitation appeared on her computer screen: a Travel Journalism course taught by the Argentine magister Miguel Ledhesma. That moment marked a before and after in her life. Although the course had already started, she wrote, was accepted, and enrolled,without realizing that this step would define her professional trajectory.  

  From that moment, Rosario immersed herself in a discipline that had always attracted her but that she had not known how to access. The idealized image she had built from reading travel magazines began to take concrete shape through study, constant research, and practice committed to the deeper meaning of tourism. Today, she dedicates much of her time to learning, analyzing, and producing content aimed at providing real value to those who read, listen to, or follow her work.

Her first tangible contact with tourism as a social, cultural, and economic phenomenon came through operational experience, when she sold her first travel package working at a travel agency. There, she understood that tourism is not just movement or recreation, but a complex network where people expand social ties, access new cultures, and simultaneously energize local economies through the consumption of goods and services. This comprehensive understanding became a key part of her perspective as a journalist.

A personal experience would further consolidate her connection with travel as transformation. Her first trip to Europe was originally planned with a coworker who had to cancel a few days before departure due to a family problem. Rosario almost gave up on the dream, but her father encouraged her to travel alone, even knowing it would be her first trip abroad and to another continent. With fear, but also determination, she undertook the journey. That experience not only allowed her to discover new territories but also to understand that there are multiple ways to travel, and that even alone, a journey can be a deeply enriching experience.

For Rosario Ortiz Conde, travel journalism today is a powerful tool for knowledge and visibility. She believes that the voice of a specialized journalist allows access to the depth of destinations, their people, and their customs. When practiced with ethics and commitment, it becomes a vital channel for showing realities that often have no space in mainstream tourist narratives and deserve recognition and preservation.

Her storytelling philosophy rests on a central principle: respect. Respect for places, host communities, and the traditions that give identity to each destination. She also believes that communicating involves raising awareness about the importance of conserving what is shown so that it can endure over time.

This perspective also guides how she balances criticism with responsible promotion. Rosario maintains that dissent is valid and necessary, as long as it is done with solid arguments, courtesy, and constructive intent. For her, criticism should not reflect personal tastes but well-founded reasoning that helps understand how certain practices can harm a place or its people.

Honesty, truthfulness, ethics, commitment, collaboration, and admiration for the subject are principles that guide her daily work. On sensitive topics such as sustainability, social impact, or over-tourism, her priority is the people and cultures whose quality of life could be affected by poorly managed tourism.

Among her most significant contributions to travel journalism in Colombia is the promotion of deeply Colombian cultures and customs, particularly the achievement of the Open Passport Award for Sustainable Tourist Destination for Cartagena de Indias in 2023. This is complemented by her constant presence as a Colombian travel journalist at international events and her recent appointment as Ambassador of the World Travel Journalism Organization starting in 2026.

Rosario recognizes that, thanks to the sustained work of committed journalists, travel journalism has gained recognition as a specialty. At every press conference or event she attends, her introduction as a travel journalist sparks interest and questions,signs that the discipline is consolidating as a valued and necessary professional field.  

Among the works that have had the most impact on her audience, she highlights two in particular. The first, Semana Santa en Colombia: Tres destinos una sola fe, received a special mention at the Open Passport Award 2023 and covers religious celebrations in Mompox, Girón, and Popayán. The second, Las Farotas de Talaigua La danza que defiende el honor de la mujer, delves into an ancestral expression with roots in the 15th century and was nominated for the 2025 edition of the awards.

Being named an Ambassador of the WTJO represents for Rosario both recognition of her professional journey and a renewed commitment. From Colombia, she plans to continue researching, writing, and promoting people, cultures, gastronomy, and little-known traditions, always within the ethical and conceptual framework of the organization.

Her most transformative experience took place in the Canary Islands, where she specialized in tourism at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. There, she encountered volcanic and mountainous landscapes, the experience of living on an island, and a multicultural context that broadened her worldview. She retains friendships, lessons, and indelible memories from that time.

Of the communities that have welcomed her, Rosario highlights the authenticity, generosity, and sincerity that often arise in humble environments. Projecting the future of tourism in Colombia, she observes steady growth despite complex contexts and trusts that travel journalism will play an increasingly important role in this process.

Among the challenges she identifies for tourism communicators, she emphasizes the need to demonstrate credibility, transparency, and rigor, avoiding fictionalized practices or content influenced by economic interests. Her message to new generations is clear: value ethics, do not sell your opinion for courtesy, maintain a consistent professional line, respect host communities, and never stop studying and learning.

In all her words and actions, Rosario Ortiz Conde reaffirms a simple yet profound conviction: travel journalism does not merely narrate journeys; it builds awareness, identity, and the future.