MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile launches an ambitious tourism promotion plan

Chile launched Wednesday an ambitious four year plan to promote tourism with the target of having three million foreign tourists visit the country by 2010 and income generated topping the two billion US dollars mark.

The plan announced by President Michelle Bachelet includes a 40 million US dollars loan from a multilateral financial organization to create a Tourism Promotion Fund plus elevating the current Tourist Office to an Under Secretariat.

"The plan contemplates a tourist activity development fund and a new tourism promotion model supported on public and private collaboration", said President Bachelet.

The plan is based on five main lines of action: international financing will include specific advisors to help expand the tourism supply of locations; institutional and legal support and providing assistance to small companies so they can have access to government programs.

The national budget has appropriations equivalent to seven million US dollars to promote domestic tourism.

Another five million US dollars are earmarked for international promotion focusing on Germany, France, UK, Spain and United States, countries with the highest per tourist expenditure.

Promotion of "social tourism" with the purpose of taking advantage of the existing infrastructure during the whole year is another point, following on the Spanish experience of having pensioners and high school students make use of facilities off season.

Finally, drafting regulations to improve lodging requirements, tourism guides and adventure tourism with the objective of having 500 officially certified companies by 2010.

President Bachelet said that besides the specific promotion plan, the Infrastructure Plan to improve international competitiveness is estimated to attract 5.2 billion US dollars in the next four years in government capital investment and private concessions.