MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile expects record number of Argentine tourists

Valparaiso Port

In spite of the global financial crisis Chile expects this summer season a significant increase in the number of Argentine tourists in the range of 300.000, according to the country's Tourism Office, Senatur.

If this is confirmed it would be the best season since 2001 when 350.000 Argentines crossed the Andes mountain-range to enjoy their holidays in Chile in the months of January and February. In the first nine months of 2008, Senatur statistics show that 624.291 Argentines visited Chile, compared to 563.110 last year, up 10% The preferred destinations of the Argentine summer tourists are the beaches of Viña del Mar in Valparaíso and La Serena, 400 kilometres to the north of the capital Santiago. However the main attraction for the Argentines, admits Senatur, is the favourable exchange rate which means that for each unit of the Argentine currency tourists will receive 190 Chilean pesos up from 158, last summer. Senatur is involved in an aggressive campaign to attract tourists and has posted ads in Mendoza, Cordoba, San Juan, Rosario, Buenos Aires and even several Brazilian cities. "We already have bookings which is very encouraging and means we are going to have a good summer season", said the head of the Commerce and Tourism Chamber from Viña del Mar, which has spent over half a million US dollars promoting the city and its beaches in Argentina. The impact of the global financial crisis should not be destabilizing for the industry according to Sernatur director Oscar Santelices. "Foreigners will arrive in Chile with a stronger US dollar, which will encourage them to spend or at least restrict much less their consumption than what they had planned because of the crisis", said Santelices. This coming season has two additional attractions for visitors besides the sea resorts of La Serena and Viña del Mar. Unesco is sponsoring the World Astronomy Year in 2009, and since the Andes have some of the most potent world telescopes for international cosmic research, the slogan is "Chile, humanity's telescope". The second is the Dakar Rally which will take place between January 9 and 14 in Chile. The 2009 edition has been moved to South America and is being hosted by Argentina and Chile.