The Tourism Week ended with a good move and good occupancy levels throughout the country, between 70% and 80% in most destinations according to estimates of private operators, informed Coffee & Business Marina Cantera, president of the Uruguayan Chamber of Tourism (Camtur). In this context, the movement in the thermal area of the country that was different from what happened in previous years drew attention.
Cantera explained that, although Usually the Tourism Week has the hot springs as one of the most chosen destinationsthis year the busiest days were only Thursday, Friday and Saturdayand in the rest of the week a drop was noted.
Said change in the movement of tourism is attributed to the fact that “people chose Argentina more”he commented. “Particularly those who go to the hot springs, some chose to cross to destinations (also hot springs) on the neighboring shore,” she added.
Competition from across the river
The Vice Minister of Tourism, Remo Monzeglio, agreed, the hot springs are a traditional destination for this week, But this year, the exchange difference with Argentina encouraged tourists to cross into that country. In addition, “in the last 15 years, on the Argentine coast they have developed thermal products as good as ours,” commented the undersecretary for this reason, also Argentines who previously chose Uruguayan thermal baths, today opt for other proposals.
Despite this, and taking into account that foreigners – such as Argentines, Brazilians or Chileans – did not have the entire week of vacation, but rather the last days of the Easter weekend, there were thousands of entries. The National Directorate of Migration (DNM) registered more than 350,000 during the week. Paysandú was the point of the country through which more people entered (74,067), followed by Fray Bentos (73,686), Colonia (58,040) and Salto (56,732).
“The Tourism Week for us is very special. This year the weather was good, people came out to each and every one of the corners of the country. The people diversified in many places”, highlighted Monzeglio.
Hot springs tasting
Monzeglio recently traveled to Ourense (Galicia, Spain) considered the second European thermal destination, where the temperature of the thermal waters reaches 65°, he said. In Daymán, at the wellhead the water reaches 45° and in the pools at 42°, he added.
“They are going to put us in the eye of world thermalism”he stressed.
possibilities to travel
There were also those who traveled from Uruguay abroad, 364,284 people, according to the DNM. Monzeglio indicated that currently Uruguay “has the highest per capita income in dollars of countries in the region, therefore, Argentina, which has eight types of dollars, encourages many people to leave the country,” he said.
In this sense, the undersecretary added that many people also chose other destinations, such as Europe, the Caribbean or the United States (USA). “That speaks volumes about the possibilities that Uruguayans have today to travel, because we have an accessible dollar“, said.
“The tourist phenomenon culminates with a more than positive Easter Week”, remarked the vice minister.
rural tourism
The president of Camtur explained that this year the Tourism Week was characterized by a great movement, there were those who chose to spend the whole week in one place, those who went out for a few days and those who – the majority, according to what they said – chose to visit several destinations.
“It was not done all week in the same place, and I think that this, this desire to see places in Uruguay, is something that was left over from the pandemic. After the pandemic, many Uruguayans were bitten by the curiosity bug and this week was a good one for that, ”he commented.
Rural tourism stood out among the options chosen by travelersagreed with the vice minister.
