MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

International tourism influx to Argentina increased 27.1% during 2010

And 1.9 million Argentines chose to travel overseas

The number of foreign tourists visiting Argentina jumped 27.1% in 2010 compared to the year before, while dollars spent increased 25.9% according to air and sea arrivals and City of Buenos Aires numbers compiled by the country’s Statistics and Census Office, Indec.

In 2010 a total of 2.647.869 non resident tourists visited Argentina, data supported by the International Tourism poll and sponsored by the Tourism Ministry and Indec. The main sources of information are the international airport of Ezeiza and the smaller Aeroparque terminal in downtown Buenos Aires that operates a shuttle to neighbouring Montevideo in Uruguay.

Regarding expenditure, during 2010 tourists spent an estimated 3.371 billion US dollars which represents a 25.9% increase over the previous twelve months.

Numbers show that the main influx of tourists was from Brazil, 863.492 followed by Europeans, 583.538 and 528.169 from the rest of the Americas. On the other hand the number of Argentines travelling overseas for leisure reached 1.9 million, which represents a 15.2% increase. The international balance was positive for Argentina with 747.036 foreign visitors.

Last December 243.012 tourists arrived in Argentina, up 16.4% over a year ago while Argentines travelling overseas totalled 134.965, up 12.1%. The balance again was positive for Argentina with 108.047

The December international influx is estimated to have pumped 371 million USD to the local economy, while Argentines travelling overseas spent 203 USD.