MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile ski resorts missed Brazilian tourist these winter holidays

An estimated 37.000 Brazilians came to Chile in June/July, 23% down from 2008

Brazilian tourists, who usually come to Chile to ski during the winter months, did not turn up as strongly as in years past, hurting the ski resorts, hotels and tourism in general this year.

In 2010, according to figures from Sernatur (the National Service of Chilean Tourism), 37,093 Brazilian tourists came to Chile in June and July. In 2009, the figure for these two months was at 39,705. In June and July of 2008, 57,543 Brazilian tourists came.

This drastic 31% drop in 2009 was attributed to the H1N1 scare and this year it has been attributed to fears of the damage done by the February 8.8-magnitude earthquake and fears of additional earthquakes.

According to the Federation of Tourism Enterprises (Fedetur), the “earthquake effect” was strongly felt in March, April and May, when Chile had 57% fewer Brazilian visits than in 2008 during the same three-month period. During the month of June, compared to 2008, there were 23% fewer visits and in July, there were 41% fewer.

“The decline in 2010 was due to the earthquake, and a late promotion effort was not enough to boost arrivals from March to June.

However, in July you start to notice the effect of advertising campaigns carried out in Brazil,” said Juan Luis Crespo, secretary general of Fedetur.

Despite the bad news acknowledged by the tour operators, ski resorts and the Embassy of Brazil, there is consensus the trend in visitors has picked up and numbers might have even increased over last year. Still, it will not be enough to reach the record figures of 2008.

The effort to promote Chile as a vacation destination was made in April by the Chilean Association of Tourism Enterprises (Acheta) and consisted of promotional visits to Brazil and invitations given to foreign media.

On average, each tourist spends about 570 US dollars during their time in Chile and a large portion of the tourists come for sporting reasons, especially for skiing.

Many ski resorts owners project a longer season this year because of abundant snowfall and colder temperatures. Francisco Giner, general manager of Termas de Chillán, a resort a few hours south of Santiago, said the resort would remain open until Oct. 24.

Also in Chillán, Nevados de Chillán indicated that it would stay open until Oct. 12.

Santiago-area resorts, Colorado-Farrellones and La Parva, plan to operate until the end of September, but are considering remaining open into October, depending on conditions.

By Laura French – Santiago Times