President Luis Lacalle Pou led the opening of the 67th Meeting of the Regional Commission of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) for the Americas, in Punta del Este. There, he pointed out that new opportunities are opening up for the tourism sector in Latin America and that the public and private sectors should work together.
In addition, he highlighted the resilience of operators in the framework of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In his speech, Lacalle Pou celebrated the presence of local and foreign tour operators, and highlighted the resilience of the sector during the pandemic. “There is hardly a sector that has worked so side by side with the Government, proposing and bringing solutions to the almost complete closure of its activity,” he said.
He recalled the closure of borders and the lack of connectivity during the health emergency due to COIVID-19, which he described as a lowering of curtains for a branch that lives from the movement of people. He also congratulated and thanked the willingness to “stand shoulder to shoulder” to take action and seek solutions.
“Obviously crises pass, the problem is that they leave people by the wayside,” he said, adding that it is necessary to know how to move forward and how to recover those actors whose activity was damaged.
In his speech, he addressed the need to reestablish the air bridge and greater connectivity, to expand the offer and reduce ticket prices. He argued that the Government is working with Europe and Asia, and that for this, coordination with airports in the region is needed. “We can work together,” he stated.
Likewise, he highlighted the “harmonious exit” that Uruguay had from the health emergency, which caused the possibility of hosting high-ranking sporting events such as the finals of the Copa Libertadores and Conmebol’s Copa Sudamericana.
Lacalle Pou also highlighted the potential of wine tourism, associated with good hotels, in Uruguay. He also referred to the rural tourism that the country presents, and that found great relevance after the pandemic, associated with the search for open and natural environments by tourists.
“We are facing a very important opportunity for Latin America, for the region and for Uruguay. It will depend on the intelligence that the private sector has to enroll the public sector, and on the sense of seeing that the public sector has to leverage the private sector. My presence here seeks the latter, ”he indicated.
The activity, held within the framework of the first International Tourism Congress and held at the Enjoy Hotel in Punta del Este, in Maldonado, also had the participation of the Minister of Tourism, Tabaré Viera, and the UNWTO Secretary General, Zurab Pololikashvili.
The Foreign Minister, Francisco Bustillo, the Undersecretary of Tourism, Remo Monzeglio, and the Mayor of Maldonado, Enrique Antía, also attended.
