Uruguay estimates that the number of arriving tourists to the country by the end of the year will reach 2.830.000, which is 40.000 less than in 2012, but still encouraging given the regional conditions, according to Tourism minister Liliam Kechichian.
Uruguay hosted last week a conference and workshop on tools and strategies to strengthen the response to cruise ship accidents. David Jardine-Smith, from the International Maritime Rescue Federation, and Roly McKie, HM Coastguard Staff Officer, Search and Rescue Operations, were the facilitators of the event.
Even when Uruguay's official cruise season is scheduled for November this last Sunday Montevideo received “Costa Neo Romantica” a vessel on a world tour. She was expected to call at the Atlantic seaside resort of Punta del Este, but adverse weather conditions cancelled the visit.
Uruguay is expecting over 230 cruise calls this coming 2013/14 season and is in the process to install a network of cameras for crime control in downtown Montevideo, announced the Ministry of Tourism director Benjamin Liberoff.
“We have come for people-to-people contacts, to talk about business opportunities and for the resumption of the close and historic links between the Falkland Islands and Uruguay”, repeated Falklands’ lawmaker Dick Sawle during one of his many presentations in Montevideo.
Falkland Islands member of the Legislative Assembly Dick Sawle will be in Montevideo 2-6 September, after spending a week in Brazil involved in business, academia and informal political contacts sponsored by the Foreign Office. In Uruguay according to the official release MLA Sawle will inform about business opportunities with the Falklands and to strengthen the historical ties with Uruguay.
The first gay couple to register to marry in Uruguay when a new equal marriage law took effect on 5 August, have married as gay rights activists celebrate in the country. Sergio Miranda and Rodrigo Borda married in Montevideo last Thursday accompanied by 30 friends and family, US Ambassador Julissa Reynoso and around a hundred members of the media.
A Uruguayan frigate was involved in a high seas medic evacuation following a distress call from Spanish trawler ‘Playa de Sartaxens’ because one of its young crew members suffered a sudden faint which lasted several minutes.
Suriname and Guyana signed on Thursday the protocols to become associate members of Mercosur which is currently holding its mid year summit in Montevideo. This means all South American countries are now part of Mercosur.
The Uruguayan 2012/13 cruise season experienced a 10% increase in the number of calls to the ports of Montevideo and Punta del Este totalling 240 and approximately 400.000 visitors between passengers and crew members.