In a meeting held in the Kerayvoty reserve, in the vicinity of Juan Lacaze, national and departmental authorities and tourism entrepreneurs discussed lines of action to promote the progress of sports and nautical tourism in the area. With the improvement in services and the reduction in port fees, the aim is to impact a market of 500,000 vessels from the Argentine coast.
The National Director of Tourism, Roque Baudean; the undersecretary of Sport, Pablo Ferrari, and the national director of Hydrography, Marcos Paolini, participated in the training this Thursday 30.
Baudean reported that the Ministry of Tourism (Mintur) is in the process of strengthening governance throughout the territory, to advance in the articulation and understanding between the public and private sectors, a fact that he considered essential. In this context, he stressed that the state secretariat promotes the development of the town of Juan Lacaze through training instances in which the tour operators in the area participate.
He added that in that city there is also potential in terms of heritage and beach tourism, and mentioned projects by private investors to increase hotel capacity.
For his part, Marcos Paolini explained that the direction he leads is working to promote nautical tourism, through investments in maintenance and improvements to the maritime terminals, and the reduction in fees for the use of the facilities. He explained that the port of Juan Lacaze ensures capacity for about 100 boats and that the occupation is total almost permanently.
He also said that this terminal applies a lower usage fee than other marinas in the country, which increases its attractiveness. In this sense, he said that in Argentina there is a vast market for sports boats in the areas of Tigre, Olivos and San Fernando, which could access the services of the Uruguayan ports by benefiting from more affordable prices.
The port of Juan Lacaze is very interesting for Argentine citizens, it must be strengthened, and it is what the secretariat is working on, assured Pablo Ferrari, in his speech. He highlighted that Uruguay has become a logistics center (hub) sports health, since the beginning of the pandemic, and that has proven to have the necessary structure to host events of this kind. Regarding the subject, he recalled that the country organized rugby, soccer, karate and boating tournaments and sports finals, among others.
Ferrari pointed out that carrying out sports activities favors the growth of tourism, since it affects the income of the hotel, gastronomy and services sectors.