MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Torres del Paine Park officials get tough: ticket increase and stricter access

Average day ticket for foreigners now costs 30 US dollars

Foreign tourists visiting the world famous Torres del Paine national park in Chilean Patagonia will have to pay a 15.000 Chilean pesos ticket, (approx 30 US dollars) each time they walk into the grounds. The fee for local guides and transport staff is 4.000 Chilean pesos (8 USD).

This applies to all foreigners except those who are actually staying at the hotels of hostels inside the park.

The announcement by Chilean Parks administration, Conaf, triggered an immediate reaction from local tourism operators and staff linked to the park’s activities arguing “prices were excessive and the system discriminatory”.

However Conaf chief Juan Jose Romero said that he was only applying what the law mandated regarding access prices and more specifically on working staff access he claimed “several kinds of abuses had been committed taking advantage of the fact there wasn’t a strict scrutiny of access tickets”.

“We acted in good faith but on occasions we have found the same tickets used several times, so now every time a bus approaches the park, everybody comes down with his ticket. Besides tickets will be valid for one access and not for several days as in the past” he said.

“We weren’t told a word about all these changes”, complained Ahmed Zalej from the Ultima Esperanza Chamber of Tourism and Transport, “they didn’t even answer our letter with suggestions”, he added.

Romero said there had been “use and abuse” of the old system and this will also entail “longer waiting periods” to double check the tickets, which “I consider disappointing, but some staff were not helpful”.

However he did admit that the increase in prices could possibly not help with reactivation, “yes, we are still going through a crisis period” but “the price hadn’t been adjusted since 2005”.

Romero also pointed out that the office he heads has worked to help local economic activity. Even in high season there are agreements with different Chilean town councils which bring along hundreds of national visitors from all over the country and “they have free access”, which means more disposable money to spend in the private sector.