With less than a month to go until the first pandemic-free July vacation in two years, the main Uruguayan tourist destinations are preparing with expectation and aiming to continue on the path of recovery of the sector.
The Minister of Tourism, Tabaré Vierasaid in interview with The Observer what is being seen a good outlook for the July holidays and although he highlighted thermal tourism, he also maintained that “These are times for rural tourism, nature tourism, historical tourism, wine tourism and even reunion tourism”.
“July for the school holidays is an important season, basically for domestic tourism but also for regional tourism. Especially since usually School vacations in Uruguay do not coincide with any of its neighbors and that extends the possibility of tourist movement”, he narrowed down.
The President of the Uruguayan Chamber of Tourism (Camtur), Marina Canteratold El Observador that it is the “hot spring season” but that there is also a lot of movement in “nature activities” among which trekking stood out.
“It has had a great takeoff and in general We believe that this takeoff will continue because people want to experience nature and trekking is a beautiful activity that also occurs throughout the country.“, held.
According to the president of Camtur, the idea that at certain times there were destinations “that shone” above others and tourism”has begun to distribute in different parts of the country” so that “the whole country is going to move well in winter”.
How are the hot springs prepared?
Adrián Popruzuk, manager of the Arapey Thermal Resort & Spacommented that the sector is “very well prepared” to receive tourists pointing to “exceed expectations” of a “family audience” what is a “market niche that” they know how to drive. “Fate is moving and we are very united at the public-private level”, he added.
Salto Quartermaster
For its part, Flavia Lavecchia, head of the Salto Commercial and Industrial Center Tourism Commission (Ccisalto), argued that the industry trust in the work being done but what’s up?uncertainty” due to the situation exchange difference with Argentina. The Uruguayan coast the exchange difference will suffer a lot, that is clear to us. We have to know how we position ourselves against that and work“, said. Along these lines, he added that the great concern is not so much the Argentine who cannot come because of the exchange difference, but for the Uruguayan who chooses to leave.
Beyond that, Lavecchia pointed out that the sector is ready for this winter season. “We have been working hard on quality and destination management. The hot springs today have control and care in which we have really been working very well.”, highlighted the operator in dialogue with El Observador.
Not everything is thermal tourism
Andrés Castellano, president of the Colonia Tourist Association (ATC), He noted that the departmentalways sets the bar high” and remarked that the difference in the beginning of the vacations in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay allows that there is “a broker window of more than 30 days to which we will focus all the promotional actionl”.
“We are going to focus on promotion on social networks, which are the places where your vacations begin. We are going to focus there; sectorize the guideline in networks that gives many results, it is an element of destination sale that you cannot stop preparing“, said to The Observer.
Municipality of Cologne
Delvair Amarilla, president of the Rochense Tourism Corporation (CRT), indicated that they are working together with the public sector for the domestic tourism attraction and highlighted that Rocha has the “peculiarity that its highest percentage of visits” corresponds to that public.
For Amarilla, the great challenge is to ensure that Rocha is not “just a sun and beach destination” but it is important get entrepreneurs to consider that it is worth opening all year.
“We must work Rocha not only in December, January and February and then see what happens, see what hotels are open, see what services are available. We want Rocha all year round because the products are there and we have to work on it”, he pointed out in dialogue with The Observer.
The president of the CRT also pointed out that “Brazilian tourism is starting to come out” so you are going to target these touriststaking advantage of the June 16 holiday in Brazil –by Corpus Christi– to attract them also for july holidays.
Miguel Arregui
Martín Lavanture, Director of Tourism of the Municipality of Maldonadosaid to The Observer that for the winter season is needed “use ingenuity” as “selling the beach in summer is easy” but that the challenge is in “sell other products” with which they can compete “with destinations that have very attractive winter offers”.
“We have great potential, vineyards, olive trees and historical tourism. Also the possibility of outdoor sports. Events and congresses are all things that make us have offers beyond sun and beach”, he expressed.
And I add: “We have to go out and promote them and tell the client, both nationally and regionally, that we have a very good season for the holidays.“.
Lugano as a decoy to attract Brazilians
So far in June, Uruguay has participated in two activities in the tourism sector in southern Brazil. On the one hand, On June 7 in Porto Alegre, Mintur and Camtur carried out Experimente o Uruguai, aimed at travel agents and operators and aiming to strengthen the positioning of the Uruguay Natural brand in Brazilian territory.
And between On June 9 and 10, the main actors of Uruguayan tourism participated in the Paraná Tourism Expo 2022the traditional activity organized by the Brazilian Association of Travel Agencies of Paraná (ABAV-PR)with the same destination: sell Uruguay.
Fernando Tapia, Vice President of Camtur and ATCsaid to The Observer that the objective of these instances is to “reposition the different destinations of Uruguay in the most important source markets” after the two years of the pandemic and the impact that this meant for the industry.
Tapia said that during the visit to Porto Alegre the delegation met Diego Lugano, former captain of the Uruguayan soccer team and champion of the Copa Libertadores with the Brazilian São Paulo in 2005who decidedcontribute and support the event”. And he added: “He made use of the word commenting on the benefits of Uruguay for tourism and what Brazilians could find there”.
Ministry of Tourism
Delegation of the Uruguayan tourism sector at Expo Paraná
In both activities, the representatives of the Mintur and the Camtur were accompanied by delegations from Colonia, Maldonado, Montevideo and Rocha. Belén Fraire, secretary of the CRT, said to The Observer from Curitiba who are being “capturing” tourists and “selling” to Uruguay as a tourist destination in “travel agencies and wholesale and retail operators in southern Brazil”.
“The perception we have is that Brazilians know Montevideo, Punta del Este and some of Colonia but the rest of the destinations are unknown. In that sensewe have to make Rocha knownFrair said. And he pointed out that there is a good return on the part of the Gaucho tourists: “It is a new and very close destination. We are 650 km from Porto Alegre, there are daily flights of the Azul airline and the gaúcho and the Paraná native are eager to meet destinations in Uruguay“, said.
Tapia reported that it is planned continue promoting the country in different instances in São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Córdoba and Rosario.
