Argentina rapidly becoming too expensive for foreign tourists
Argentina is rapidly becoming an expensive country for tourists and evidence of this is the declining number of tourists arriving in the country in the first months of the year while the number of Argentine travelling overseas is soaring, according to Mario Lielman, chair of the Buenos Aires Tourism and Travel Agencies Association.
Inflation, an over valued currency and the European crisis have hit the inflow of foreign tourists to the city of Buenos Aires, said Mr Lielman during the 38 congress of Tourism and Travel agencies, AAAVYT.
“Inflation, even high, has not been enough to counter the appreciation of the Argentine Peso and tourists think twice before planning a trip. Likewise for Argentines a strong currency and more accessible prices in the US and Europe have become a magnet”.
According to the latest stats the number of foreign tourists arriving in the city of Buenos Aires (by air) in the first four months of the year was 936.000 which is 3.1% less than the same period a year ago, and more specifically in April the fall was 5.6%. The number of Brazilians arriving, which have become the main source of tourists (30%), dropped 8.8% in April over a year ago.
This is particularly significant since for the last few years the number of tourists, month after month, has been growing sustainedly.
Lielman also mentioned the domestic scheduled flights fares which this week were increased between 10% and 20%, except long distances which were upped 30%. This is the case for en vogue places such as Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego or Salta and the Iguazú falls.
“For foreign tourists domestic flights are expensive. For example a full ticket London-Buenos Aires-London is cheaper than flying from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, El Calafate or Iguazú. This is discouraging for foreign tourists”, said Lielman.
But not only domestic causes can be blamed. The Euro crisis has reduced the number of tourists travelling to Argentina, particularly Spaniards, and this impact is felt much stronger because Europeans on average spend 25.5 days in Buenos Aires and are more willing to spend on tours and check in at the expensive hotels.
And while it has become tighter for Europeans it has become more attractive for Argentines to travel overseas given the cheaper US dollar and more accessible prices. The latest stats indicate that in the twelve months to April, 31% more Argentines have travelled overseas. The rate of growth in the first quarter was 10% monthly plus the fact that Argentines are spending more time overseas.
Likewise a survey of hotels’ reservations and bookings, according to official stats from Indec shows that in March 2012 the number of bookings was down 5.3% over a year ago, which worked out at 5,4% for resident Argentines and 4.8% for foreigners.
However Sergio Sanchez head of the AAAVYT, chapter Mendoza is not fully convinced: he believes the situation is worse, “The government presents the numbers in the most convenient way for its interests”, so the organization is seriously considering coming up with its own stats “to have a clearer idea of what is really going on
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Without having checked the validity of the info; most of it seems to be correct……
Except…………:
1) “Inflation, even high, has not been enough to counter the appreciation of the Argentine Peso”
(Inflation and currency appreciation don’t “Counter” each other, their “Reinforce” each other.)
2) “…. a full ticket London-Buenos Aires-London is cheaper than flying from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, El Calafate or Iguazú.”
(Bollocks…….., those internal flight are quite expensive, but they still costs less than half of a LON-BUE-LON Monkey-class ticket)
Anyone turning up at the border with dollars will have to exchange them for pesos, and demand for that dollar is high so they'll get more than the face value of the dollar based upon it's relatively riskless nature.
The only reason it would be expensive is not because of any appreciation in the value of the currency, which clearly isn't the case, but rather taxes applied to things you're buying in the country itself. Like holidaying in Norway or Sweden, that's what's going to keep people away.
www.StopFundingArgentina.org
Anyone reading this outside of Argentina sign THE FORM NOW.
Where else in the world can you sit on the beach, six month a year, and enjoy the whales singing, just 100 yards away ?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V1BNHJsmbI
(And all this for free)
So the US dollar is getting cheaper for Argentinians ??????
South Africa - been there and got the T shirt.
Amazing place.
@8 That's essentially what he's saying. Well done him.
@5- are you saying that even as a tourist you cannot take USD in through customs? Do they make you change them to dud pesos at a dud rate à la East Germany pre-1989??
exposebuenosaires.com/cost-of-living-in-buenos-aires/
Dinner for two, incl. 1 appetizer, two main courses, one dessert, and a bottle of wine:
*Cheap restaurant: $125+
*Nice restaurant: $200 +
At an exchange rate of 7 pesos to the GBP under £30 for for 2 is not bad
@13 I was thinking of an exchange rate similar that to the collapse of the Weimar Republic (Germany 1923) (upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8f/GermanyHyperChart.jpg/480px-GermanyHyperChart.jpg)
52 lsolde---- They have made a deal with the Devil, that's why they sporned that woman who now sits at the high table of the Satan worshipers who sit eagerly eyeing the place of your birth.
Stop all funding to this corrupt country called Argentina bring down this corrupt country and all who govern Argentina.
www.StopFundingArgentina.org
Anyone reading this outside of Argentina sign THE FORM NOW.
I am not intending on visiting BA.
The article headline “Argentina rapidly becoming too expensive for foreign tourists”
But as the article was suggesting that the cost of living was one of the reasons for the lack of visitors, it was worth checking the costs in BA.
Perhaps it is the way that Argentina is presenting itself to the rest of the world that is the real problem.
Is Argentina expensive? Is entirely depends where you stay and eat. You can still get about, eat and sleep relatively cheaply if you are on a budget. If you want some comfort then it is quite expensive. This is softened a little by the fact that I now get 7 pesos for one of my £'s. It is quite usual for tourist to be charged considerably more than locals for the same service/attraction.
It does look quite comfortable, but it ain't cheap!!!
Jun 09th, 2012 - 04:34 pm
Of course, as Anibal Fernandez said “...to hold pesos is idiotic.”
I have been saying for a long time US UK EU tourists will stop going to BA once inflation makes it too expensive. If I remember correctly it was Think aka Marcos aka blah blah blah told me it would never happen. Right now it is cheaper and much easier to get from the US east coast to go to UK and EU. Guess what that's where everyone is going this summer.
@24 They all charge in dollars. They always want dollars.
ElaineB - A K- congressman has just introduced a bill which will almost eliminate the U.S. dollar as currency in Argentina.
I have stayed at a few places that get around the problem by asking customers to pay into a foreign bank account. I guess that will become more common.
If you have any video or photographic material of ANY beach in South Africa or Australia where living whales swim at less than 50 yards from the shoreline, I would REALLY want to see it…..
Until then………………. Just Anglo Turnips Bravado and Ignorance…………
Choke.
bahahahaha
Yes!! Shoreham-by-sea!!
You know what the difference between a walrus and an Essex girl is?
One is fat with a moustache and smells of fish and the other is a walrus!!
Thank you!!! I thank you!! I'll be here all week!!!
As a former New Yorker, I have always stopped there on my way back to BA from an annual trip to Europe. Not this year. The rate at my Manhattan hotel has doubled from a year ago. Still no free wifi.
And there are many more if you care to look. Also notice the clean, warm, blue water.
Q. How does an essex girl turn on the lights after s3x?
A. She just asks the camera-man.
*tumbleweed enters stage left* *owl hoots*
@39 If you go up the east coast you can scuba and see the whales go past, very very close. They're massive and really loud under water.
If you go to the town of Hermanus on the Western province of the Cape, you can watch Southern Right Whales and their calves from the cliffs. At times, the whales are almost on the beach. Binoculars are not needed. Off shore, the bull whales display by breaching and tail slapping. I have also seen them inshore from Simonstown. On a pelagic bird watching trip, we also sailed through the Right whales and a pod of Brydes whales just off the Cape peninsula. I have pictures and videos taken of the whales.
Another great place for whale watching is Kaikoura, on the S. Island of N.Z.
Nearer home, Minke whales are regularly seen in the Clyde estuary along with occasional Orcas and Humpbacks. Various Dolphins also pass through.
Off the western Isles, there is a thriving whale watching business. Almost anything can turn up. They have recently discovered that Blue whales migrate off the Scottish coast. This discovery was made by passive sonar arrays deployed to monitor Soviet nuclear submarines.
The connection to this article...people don't travel to major cities that don't have gas and electric.
Priceless.
Thicko should get out and about a little bit more....
You know Think has to grasp as straws to try and find something Argentina has that no one else has cheaper and better. I lived there for years and didn't find one thing!
Think, do you have gas to heat your house? Solar panels don't work really well when they're covered in snow.
hahahaha brr
Those are some loooooooooong 50 yards!!!…
Are they Aussie yards?
(41) Clyde15
Yeahh… yeahh… yeahhh… YOU have pictures……. Right…..
Share them or keep quiet.
(43) Frank
As usual with Frank the Yank…. Lots of words, no shred of evidence…..
Post some pictures or videos, Yanki….
(45) yankeeboy
The same as the Yank at (43)……. NOTHING but words…..
Somebody try to post anything convincing.....
Like this amateur video....:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzdL9fvuhB8
Youtube is full of them....
All from Playa El Doradillo, Chubut, Argentina....
Chuckle chuckle©
I met some English tourists in Chile, -in February or March - and they were going to Argentina for the next leg of their tour. They were very concerned about the kind of welcome they would receive as British tourists and had been practising an Australian accent. LOL! It was a bit extreme but you can see how perceptions can very quickly change a situation. British visitors feel rightly or wrongly, unwelcome and visitors in general don't want to be caught up in the collaspse of an economy.
Good gracious no one cares... you need some serious counseling.
BTW Do you have heat? I heard San Juan has very little residential nat gas...isn't it really cold there?
ElaineB Do British tourists think that people from countries unrelated to England (Australia, NZ, South Africa etc) can tell the difference between the accents; particularly Argentines?????
We'll pay for other expenses with dollars and should get 6/1 to 10/1 rates so tourism will not be expensive in the coming months.
The BA flight from London to BsAs used to stop at Sao Paulo but now it flies direct they have removed the first class cabin.
I don't know if an Australian accent is a good disguise in Argentina. Quite honestly, I didn't think the couple should have been allowed out on their own. I did my best to reasure them they would be just fine but they seemed very anxious about everything.
I suppose that is a major downside about living the UK. We don't seem to have much breath taking wild life to watch and appreciate. Maybe we have but it is probably expensive to go watch. It's more than somewhere quite remote and out of the way.
When I moved to BA I was looking at an apt, it had a view of the river, french ambassadors residence and obelisk. I was on the balcony looking at the view and the real estate agent came over to me and said “It's like NYC isn't it?” My response was “You've obviously never been there”.
The last time BA got as expensive or in some cases more expensive than NYC was just before the last collapse.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
If the dollar-peso goes to 9-1, won't prices of goods go up double? I have a 15%discount coupon from Disco . I'm going to buy them out and hire a cartonaro to deliver the stuff to my house on his cart.
I'm surprised Thicko hasn't been telling us about the boat trips you can take to see the cormorants in Ushuaia.
Who, besides the government of Argentina (and only then for their bribes), GAF about how few idiots go and spend their holidays in the doss house of the south?
The slums in New York are high class compared to the villas....
Also sewer water running by te curve in BA....nasty....
And wires hanging all over ... I remember that....
Mouthloaded ragtag ..
When you asked me about the pictures I took, I thought you were going to send me your email address so I could send samples to you. I have no interest in face book , youtube or any other web postings.
Yes, the video you quote is certainly good and the site is worth seeing. The downside is that you would have to go to Argentina and possibly meet someone as polite and modest as yourself.
As you appear to know little about the movements of Cetacians, here are a few places where you are guaranteed to see whales - Baja California, Hawaii, Azores, Sri Lanka, Kaikoura and Hermanus in S.Africa. and for Orcas, the Shetland Islands.
Try Googling Hermanus and read about it. It was one of the reasons I visited S.A. There is no beach there but 15 metre high cliffs. The whales can be watched almost directly below. They stay inshore until their calves are big enough to be safe from predation by the Great White Sharks.
So, as you don't believe me - or anyone who does not support your countries spurious claim to the Falklands- see what the S.A Tourist board has to say on the subject.
Also, do a little research on the subject. ha ha CHUCKLE CHUCKLE as you would inanely put it
www.facebook.com/Britain1592
There is NO PLACE ON EARTH that can compare or come close to Playa Doradillo, Chubut, Argentina in respect of Coastal Whale Watching.
NO PLACE ON EARTH.
~100 - 200 whales take residence on it, each year from May to December.
They calve and mate during that period, most of the time at no more than FIFTY (50) yards from the beach.
I recommend you choose a full moon night with high tide, bivouac at the beach and enjoy one of the most powerful natural experiences, money can’t buy.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix8aMogb-gE
(Just another primitive amateur video picked from the hundreds on Youtube)
And when you get fed up of the indolent pace of those lazy singing Argie whales, you can move on to Punta Norte, Chubut, Argentina and watch this other UNIQUE Argentinean cetacean treat……:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbTugFAot4A
www.StopFundingArgentina.org
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