MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

International tourism meeting in Chilean Patagonia

The number of foreign tourists arriving in Chile has been increasing at an annual rate of 15%, and Magallanes Region stands above the national average revealed Oscar Santelices, head of the Chilean Tourist Services Board during an international meeting taking place in Punta Arenas.

Chile is hosting in Punta Arenas the 43rd World Tourism Organization Committee for the Americas meeting with the participation of delegates from the World Tourism Organization, WTO, as well as official representatives from Argentina, Brazil and Colombia.

Mr. Santelices said that tourism "sustainability" indicators and mitigation of impacts from excessive tourist activity was one of the main items addressed during the meeting.

However he pointed out that the foreign delegates were particularly interested in visiting the Torres del Paine Park given the growing attraction of Chilean Patagonia for many Latinamerican travellers.

"We did a strong promotion of Chilean Patagonia, particularly the regions of Aisen and Magallanes, and we consider the feed back has proved excellent".

Furthermore "winter tourism in Chile for Brazilians has become a great attraction, and Brazilians are the regional visitors who most spend, an average of 60/70 US dollars per day", indicated Mr. Santeciles.

Carlos Gutierrez WTO representative for the Americas pointed out the success of the meeting and the growing international interest, among the leading countries, in Chilean Patagonia.

"Chile has done a very intelligent job promoting the area in strong currency countries with great numbers of tourists. This is a private and government effort that should be taken as an example by developing countries wishing to expand their tourism industry", recommended Mr. Gutierrez.