With the beginning of another year without restrictive measures due to the coronavirus pandemic, tourism in the country is growing due to various factors beyond the removal of confinement. One of the causes was that at least 300,000 foreign tourists, mainly from Brazil, Uruguay, the United States and Chile, arrived in the country in the first weeks of January of this year to spend their holidays in Argentina.
On the other hand, the Government promoted the tourism sector with the Previaje money reimbursement plan, where consumption in packages of holidaysexcursions, regional products, car rentals, hotel rentals, among other goods and services, were returned to the consumer by 50%. A report by the Argentine Tourism Observatory (OAT) published the encouraging numbers that the sector mobilized during just the first 15 days of January.
Matías Lammens, Minister of Tourism and Sports of the Nation, said about the vacations of summer that “we are experiencing a great summer, with very good occupancy levels, similar to those of the historic 2022 season. According to our projections, the tourist movement will also be intense during the second half of January and throughout February in the main destinations of the country.”
Along the same lines, the vice president of the Chamber of Tourism, Aldo Elías, referred to the Pre-Travel 3 program through the following statements: “last year we had the Pre-Travel and this year we don’t, and we were also very close to the exit of the pandemic and there was euphoria to get out of holidays“He also said that Pre-Trip 4 is already confirmed for March 2023.
The top three of touristic destinations with the highest occupancy in each region is as follows: the Patagonia area has Las Grutas with 88%; followed by San Carlos de Bariloche with 85% hotel occupancy and El Chaltén with the same percentage points as Bariloche. At the other end of the country, the northern region contemplates Los Sauces with 100%; Tama (Quebrada del Condor) also with 100% and Tafí del Valle with slightly less occupancy corresponding to 96%.
tourist projections
It is estimated that some 32 million people will travel to the main tourist destinations in Argentina and 1.7 million foreigners will also travel through our country. The cruise travel sector will contribute by restoring the number of trips and passengers that moved before the coronavirus pandemic, mobilizing at least 690,000 people.
According to the earnings numbers, Minister Lammens estimates that the group of consumers in the 2023 summer vacation will contribute 1,370 million dollars. To these statements, the minister added that “in 2022, the spending of international visitors was 3.4 billion dollars and, accounting for the last five months, the level of recovery, compared to the same period in 2019, averaged 92%” .
