How WhereNext Travel Helped Bring the 60 Minutes Story to Life in Colombia
Tourism Done Right in Colombia
Last Sunday night, nearly 10 million people watched a 60 Minutes story by journalist Anderson Cooper about tourism done right in Colombia.
The episode is likely the single largest tourism publicity moment in Colombia’s history.
The fact that the 60 Minutes team trusted us to help bring this story to life speaks to the depth of our relationships and how well we know Colombia.
For many viewers, the episode challenged long-held perceptions of the country and showed how the right kind of tourism can create real opportunity in rural communities.
They met a single mother of five who built an ecolodge where no one else dared.
They met a biologist who turned his passion for Colombia’s 1,900 bird species into something extraordinary and now trains former FARC guerrillas to become birding guides.
Experience Colombia with the Same Team Behind the Story
WhereNext Travel designs tailor-made journeys across Colombia and Peru with the same guides, conservationists, and community partners featured in the episode.
Whether your clients are passionate about birding, conservation, gastronomy, or meaningful cultural exchange, our team creates experiences designed to help travelers truly #FeelSomething.
The Birders Show and WhereNext Travel team in the field in 2022.
Where the Story Began
This moment traces back to The Birders, a documentary film directed and produced by our CEO, Gregg Bleakney, in 2016. At a time when few people were paying attention to Colombia as a world-class nature destination, the film explored the country’s biodiversity and the people building livelihoods through conservation and birding tourism.
Last year, the producers of 60 Minutes came across the documentary and saw something worth taking to a global audience.
To bring the story to life, they needed:
trusted relationships and access to guides and suppliers willing to share their ORIGIN stories and participate in the episode
the ability to operate in remote and complex environments with high-profile guests
So they asked for help.
Helping Bring 60 Minutes to Colombia
WhereNext Travel, alongside the team from our The Birders Show YouTube channel, worked with the 60 Minutes production team during pre-production and on the ground in Colombia to help shape the episode.
The host of The Birders Show, Diego Calderón-Franco, led production in the field and became a central subject of the program. Our Director of Photography from The Birders Show worked alongside the production team to capture key moments as they unfolded.
Our role was to create an experience that allowed Anderson Cooper to connect directly with local people, understand the complexity of their stories, and experience Colombia through birding.
This is the same approach behind ORIGIN, our portrait series focused on the people behind the travel experiences we design.
For years, we have invested in telling the stories of guides, conservationists, chefs, artists, and local partners shaping the future of tourism across Latin America.
The Impact
The episode is already creating measurable impact:
increased interest in Colombia as a nature destination
greater visibility for rural, community-led tourism
a shift in how Colombia is perceived globally
For those of us who have spent decades building and believing in this story, this moment matters.
A lot.
