In the run-up to the tourist season, prices in Atlántida, Piriápolis and Punta del Este are above those in Montevideo in supermarkets of the same chains, according to a report published by the Consumer Defense area of the MEF’s General Directorate of Commerce.
To make the comparison, the prices of branches of English Store, Disco, Devoto and Devoto Express, which are present both in Montevideo and in the towns surveyed in the east.
MEF
In Punta del Este, the average markup was 4.8% and 6.1% in the first two weeks of November and December, respectively. In December of last year, the difference was almost a 2 points less than the current one. It should be noted that last year the country faced a complex panorama from a health point of view due to the number of COVID-19 infections, something that hit the activity of last summer season.
If it is separated by chains, Disk presented prices in December 6.9% higher than those of Montevideo while English Store did it in 6.1%.
MEF
Piriapolis, where the only one of the established chains is Devotee, he was 4.2% more expensive than Montevideo in the first fortnight of this month, and in both November and December, the differences were smaller than last year.
MEF
In Atlantis, the average was a 1.7% above Montevideo prices the first fifteen days of December and, unlike what happened in Punta del Este, the highest price premium was in English Store (2.9%) and not in Disk (0.4%).
MEF
The official survey indicated that “the surcharge increases as we move away from Montevideo, at least to Punta del Este “and which is greater in December than in November. In addition, in general, the price premiums were more pronounced this year than in the same months of 2020.
In October, the authorities of the Ministry of Tourism (Mintur) met with representatives of the Uruguayan Supermarkets Association (ASU) and from Uruguay Center for Retail, Barista, Self-Service and Related Warehouses (Cambadu) to make a tourist basket for the summer season, as it had already been applied in previous years.
The goal was adjust details to reissue the implementation of a tourist basket of 300 products that will have a fixed price during the summer season.