MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Argentina rapidly becoming too expensive for foreign tourists
Argentina is rapidly becoming an expensive country for tourists and evidence of this is the declining number of tourists arriving in the country in the first months of the year while the number of Argentine travelling overseas is soaring, according to Mario Lielman, chair of the Buenos Aires Tourism and Travel Agencies Association. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesYankee boy would say this is just another economic indicator,
Jun 09th, 2012 - 12:48 am - Link - Report abuse 0Is this true?
Jun 09th, 2012 - 02:49 am - Link - Report abuse 0TWIMC
Jun 09th, 2012 - 04:06 am - Link - Report abuse 0Without having checked the validity of the info; most of it seems to be correct……
Except…………:
1) “Inflation, even high, has not been enough to counter the appreciation of the Argentine Peso”
(Inflation and currency appreciation don’t “Counter” each other, their “Reinforce” each other.)
2) “…. a full ticket London-Buenos Aires-London is cheaper than flying from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, El Calafate or Iguazú.”
(Bollocks…….., those internal flight are quite expensive, but they still costs less than half of a LON-BUE-LON Monkey-class ticket)
If the peso is officially 4.49 to the dollar and even more to pound and euro and other currencies shouldn't it still be cheaper for tourists for foreign tourists? I would to visit Argentina/ Patagonia what do quality hotels cost per night? Air fair inside the country
Jun 09th, 2012 - 04:08 am - Link - Report abuse 0@4 The fact is that the unofficial-but-realistic exchange rate (6 pesos / USD) indicates the relative buying power of each currency; a product of both the appreciation in the currency and inflation in the cost of buying a basket of things. This makes Mario Lielman's statements a bit odd and uneducated.
Jun 09th, 2012 - 04:57 am - Link - Report abuse 0Anyone turning up at the border with dollars will have to exchange them for pesos, and demand for that dollar is high so they'll get more than the face value of the dollar based upon it's relatively riskless nature.
The only reason it would be expensive is not because of any appreciation in the value of the currency, which clearly isn't the case, but rather taxes applied to things you're buying in the country itself. Like holidaying in Norway or Sweden, that's what's going to keep people away.
Stop all funding to this corrupt country called Argentina bring down this corrupt country and all who govern Argentina.
Jun 09th, 2012 - 04:58 am - Link - Report abuse 0www.StopFundingArgentina.org
Anyone reading this outside of Argentina sign THE FORM NOW.
Playa Doradillo, Chubut, Argentina
Jun 09th, 2012 - 05:04 am - Link - Report abuse 0Where else in the world can you sit on the beach, six month a year, and enjoy the whales singing, just 100 yards away ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V1BNHJsmbI
(And all this for free)
”And while it has become tighter for Europeans it has become more attractive for Argentines to travel overseas given the cheaper US dollar and more accessible prices. The latest stats indicate that in the twelve months to April, 31% more Argentines have travelled overseas. The rate of growth in the first quarter was 10% monthly plus the fact that Argentines are spending more time overseas.
Jun 09th, 2012 - 05:33 am - Link - Report abuse 0So the US dollar is getting cheaper for Argentinians ??????
#7
Jun 09th, 2012 - 06:13 am - Link - Report abuse 0South Africa - been there and got the T shirt.
7 Think
Jun 09th, 2012 - 06:25 am - Link - Report abuse 0Amazing place.
@7 Technically, sitting on a beach for six months in a year requires some kind of reputable income, unless you're Maximo or Alicia of course.
Jun 09th, 2012 - 07:37 am - Link - Report abuse 0@8 That's essentially what he's saying. Well done him.
Expensive...Not for me ..I have loads of cash
Jun 09th, 2012 - 07:38 am - Link - Report abuse 0@9- Australia is best for beach bumming and whales. Nicer ocean than the Atlantic and Indian as in one can actually swim in it and not freeze (Atl) or be eaten by a shark (Indian). Avoid the Indian ocean side of Oz as well. Equal problem with sharks.
Jun 09th, 2012 - 08:19 am - Link - Report abuse 0@5- are you saying that even as a tourist you cannot take USD in through customs? Do they make you change them to dud pesos at a dud rate à la East Germany pre-1989??
An interesting link to the cost of living and prices in BA.
Jun 09th, 2012 - 08:35 am - Link - Report abuse 0http://exposebuenosaires.com/cost-of-living-in-buenos-aires/
Dinner for two, incl. 1 appetizer, two main courses, one dessert, and a bottle of wine:
*Cheap restaurant: $125+
*Nice restaurant: $200 +
At an exchange rate of 7 pesos to the GBP under £30 for for 2 is not bad
@14 Ferk-a-duck that's expensive. I'm not going there.
Jun 09th, 2012 - 08:47 am - Link - Report abuse 0@13 I was thinking of an exchange rate similar that to the collapse of the Weimar Republic (Germany 1923) (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8f/GermanyHyperChart.jpg/480px-GermanyHyperChart.jpg)
Well I wont be spending a single Peso when I go there if I can help it. why should anyone help to prop up that despicable country.
Jun 09th, 2012 - 08:53 am - Link - Report abuse 052 lsolde---- They have made a deal with the Devil, that's why they sporned that woman who now sits at the high table of the Satan worshipers who sit eagerly eyeing the place of your birth.
Stop all funding to this corrupt country called Argentina bring down this corrupt country and all who govern Argentina.
www.StopFundingArgentina.org
Anyone reading this outside of Argentina sign THE FORM NOW.
@14
Jun 09th, 2012 - 09:18 am - Link - Report abuse 0I am not intending on visiting BA.
The article headline “Argentina rapidly becoming too expensive for foreign tourists”
But as the article was suggesting that the cost of living was one of the reasons for the lack of visitors, it was worth checking the costs in BA.
Perhaps it is the way that Argentina is presenting itself to the rest of the world that is the real problem.
I suspect the declining number of tourists to Argentina is, to some extent, the fact that very few make a subsequent visit, and word gets out. They don't recommend the place to their friends and family.
Jun 09th, 2012 - 09:57 am - Link - Report abuse 0@13 As far as I know you can take $10,000 dollars in without declaring it. You can usually take more if you declare it. Last time I went through BsAs - stopping for just a few days each time - I decided not to take any more than $500 as I was not if I would have to explain several thousand dollars as they are so sensitive about it. As it happens, they were completely uninterested in anyone with a foreign passport. Argentine passport holders were subjected to thorough checks.
Jun 09th, 2012 - 01:31 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Is Argentina expensive? Is entirely depends where you stay and eat. You can still get about, eat and sleep relatively cheaply if you are on a budget. If you want some comfort then it is quite expensive. This is softened a little by the fact that I now get 7 pesos for one of my £'s. It is quite usual for tourist to be charged considerably more than locals for the same service/attraction.
Some poor innocent tourist being stabbed six times in broad daylight in “Central Bs As” for a camera and bleeding to death on CCTV for the world to see may have had a bearing on these figures. Rearrange these words to complete a well know phrase “Control, of, Out”
Jun 09th, 2012 - 01:34 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Thanks you CFK for giving all Argentine's the opportunity to travel the world, and thanks you for keeping the perverts, thieves and criminals out of our country. We love you, keep up the great work guys.
Jun 09th, 2012 - 02:14 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@21 You already have so many perverts, thieves and criminals in your cuntry that more would only be icing on the cake. Every “thing” “produced” in your cesspit is either a pervert, a thief or a criminal. Or all three. It does appear that there is a tiny minority that manage to drag themselves out of the slime. Too late for you though!
Jun 09th, 2012 - 03:18 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Just out of interest Kretina's hotel in Calafate charges between US$ 123 and US$583 per night.
Jun 09th, 2012 - 03:51 pm - Link - Report abuse 0It does look quite comfortable, but it ain't cheap!!!
@23 ... Charges in dollars? LOL
Jun 09th, 2012 - 04:34 pm - Link - Report abuse 024 GreekYoghurt (#)
Jun 09th, 2012 - 04:35 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Jun 09th, 2012 - 04:34 pm
Of course, as Anibal Fernandez said “...to hold pesos is idiotic.”
As the continued collapse happens tourists will keep their distance from BA. Who travels to places with 100 road cuts, the potential for food shortages and people demonstrating in the streets? I don't see many people traveling to Greece or Egypt right now.
Jun 09th, 2012 - 04:41 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I have been saying for a long time US UK EU tourists will stop going to BA once inflation makes it too expensive. If I remember correctly it was Think aka Marcos aka blah blah blah told me it would never happen. Right now it is cheaper and much easier to get from the US east coast to go to UK and EU. Guess what that's where everyone is going this summer.
@23 I think I stayed there a couple of nights before moving to an amazing place in the wilderness.
Jun 09th, 2012 - 05:53 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@24 They all charge in dollars. They always want dollars.
Leiard (#) - Meals in Buenos Aires are much more expensive than you think; the better restaurants are getting about 400-500 pesos for two persons.
Jun 09th, 2012 - 06:51 pm - Link - Report abuse 0ElaineB - A K- congressman has just introduced a bill which will almost eliminate the U.S. dollar as currency in Argentina.
@28 Do you mean officially? I cannot see people giving it up. Surely the black market will just increase.
Jun 09th, 2012 - 07:08 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I have stayed at a few places that get around the problem by asking customers to pay into a foreign bank account. I guess that will become more common.
(9) Clyde15 & (13) Austral
Jun 09th, 2012 - 07:19 pm - Link - Report abuse 0If you have any video or photographic material of ANY beach in South Africa or Australia where living whales swim at less than 50 yards from the shoreline, I would REALLY want to see it…..
Until then………………. Just Anglo Turnips Bravado and Ignorance…………
This bill was presented one day after a government announcement that they would not go into “pesification” of the country. As most politicians do exactly opposite of what they say, this statement is a little unsettling. Read the Buenos Aires Herald`s front page on the Internet.
Jun 09th, 2012 - 07:19 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@31 Thanks. : )
Jun 09th, 2012 - 07:38 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Serves them right. They have tried to spoil the tourist industry to the Falkland Islands and by their own mismanagement are going to turn tourists away from their own country.
Jun 09th, 2012 - 08:26 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Choke.
Think's last semi coherent post before it all goes into collapse....but we have whales......thunk.
Jun 09th, 2012 - 08:34 pm - Link - Report abuse 0bahahahaha
@34 Denial much, me thinks.
Jun 09th, 2012 - 08:42 pm - Link - Report abuse 07 Think
Jun 09th, 2012 - 09:08 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Yes!! Shoreham-by-sea!!
You know what the difference between a walrus and an Essex girl is?
One is fat with a moustache and smells of fish and the other is a walrus!!
Thank you!!! I thank you!! I'll be here all week!!!
:-))
Jun 09th, 2012 - 09:09 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I wonder if this article was written before or after the government raised domestic airfares by 30% !!; in the past week.
Jun 09th, 2012 - 11:14 pm - Link - Report abuse 0As a former New Yorker, I have always stopped there on my way back to BA from an annual trip to Europe. Not this year. The rate at my Manhattan hotel has doubled from a year ago. Still no free wifi.
@ 30 “Think” -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmJeQ72wAHw
Jun 10th, 2012 - 05:14 am - Link - Report abuse 0And there are many more if you care to look. Also notice the clean, warm, blue water.
@36
Jun 10th, 2012 - 07:12 am - Link - Report abuse 0Q. How does an essex girl turn on the lights after s3x?
A. She just asks the camera-man.
*tumbleweed enters stage left* *owl hoots*
@39 If you go up the east coast you can scuba and see the whales go past, very very close. They're massive and really loud under water.
#30
Jun 10th, 2012 - 11:14 am - Link - Report abuse 0If you go to the town of Hermanus on the Western province of the Cape, you can watch Southern Right Whales and their calves from the cliffs. At times, the whales are almost on the beach. Binoculars are not needed. Off shore, the bull whales display by breaching and tail slapping. I have also seen them inshore from Simonstown. On a pelagic bird watching trip, we also sailed through the Right whales and a pod of Brydes whales just off the Cape peninsula. I have pictures and videos taken of the whales.
Another great place for whale watching is Kaikoura, on the S. Island of N.Z.
Nearer home, Minke whales are regularly seen in the Clyde estuary along with occasional Orcas and Humpbacks. Various Dolphins also pass through.
Off the western Isles, there is a thriving whale watching business. Almost anything can turn up. They have recently discovered that Blue whales migrate off the Scottish coast. This discovery was made by passive sonar arrays deployed to monitor Soviet nuclear submarines.
Read and article that every single utility in the country is on the verge of collapse. They expect nationalization of all of the electricity companies shortly. The gov't has bled them dry over the last few years and now they can't afford to pay salaries.
Jun 10th, 2012 - 01:18 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The connection to this article...people don't travel to major cities that don't have gas and electric.
Priceless.
Near Kaap van den Bosch ( or whatever they are calling it these days) in West New Guinea( migrating humpbacks) , Warrnambool , SW Victoria, ( calving right whales), Isla Carlos 111, Chile, migrating humpbacks again......
Jun 10th, 2012 - 01:50 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Thicko should get out and about a little bit more....
Argentina rapidly becoming too expensive for Argentinians. Eeek, abandon ship...
Jun 10th, 2012 - 02:10 pm - Link - Report abuse 043. They have shoreline whale watching in Nova Scotia too.
Jun 10th, 2012 - 02:27 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You know Think has to grasp as straws to try and find something Argentina has that no one else has cheaper and better. I lived there for years and didn't find one thing!
Think, do you have gas to heat your house? Solar panels don't work really well when they're covered in snow.
hahahaha brr
(39) Austral
Jun 10th, 2012 - 03:26 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Those are some loooooooooong 50 yards!!!…
Are they Aussie yards?
(41) Clyde15
Yeahh… yeahh… yeahhh… YOU have pictures……. Right…..
Share them or keep quiet.
(43) Frank
As usual with Frank the Yank…. Lots of words, no shred of evidence…..
Post some pictures or videos, Yanki….
(45) yankeeboy
The same as the Yank at (43)……. NOTHING but words…..
Somebody try to post anything convincing.....
Like this amateur video....:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzdL9fvuhB8
Youtube is full of them....
All from Playa El Doradillo, Chubut, Argentina....
Chuckle chuckle©
I guess tourists visiting Argentina will find it more expensive but mostly I think the negative publicity about the precarious state of the economy would put off more people. When the economy collapses it will not be a good place to be.
Jun 10th, 2012 - 04:19 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I met some English tourists in Chile, -in February or March - and they were going to Argentina for the next leg of their tour. They were very concerned about the kind of welcome they would receive as British tourists and had been practising an Australian accent. LOL! It was a bit extreme but you can see how perceptions can very quickly change a situation. British visitors feel rightly or wrongly, unwelcome and visitors in general don't want to be caught up in the collaspse of an economy.
Replace 'rapidly' with 'consistently' and 'expensive' with 'retarded' and the headline is about right.
Jun 10th, 2012 - 07:22 pm - Link - Report abuse 046. Are you trying to deflect from your country falling apart..whales we...have..sob...whales...nobody else does didn't you know that? Whales!!
Jun 10th, 2012 - 08:36 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Good gracious no one cares... you need some serious counseling.
BTW Do you have heat? I heard San Juan has very little residential nat gas...isn't it really cold there?
The travel industry may be the first domino to fall. Airfares from and to anywhere are out of sight. The way the world's economy is, airlines will be going out of business. American filed fr bankruptcy, many of Europe's ”budget carriers have gone out of business and I think that Iberia is no longer flying to Latin America from Spain. Strike 1 With technology as it is, 90% of all business travel is probably useless. Companies will cancel business travel.If people aren't flying, who's going to stay at hotels? Strike 2. Who is going to rent cars etc. etc. ? Strike 3.
Jun 11th, 2012 - 12:11 am - Link - Report abuse 0ElaineB Do British tourists think that people from countries unrelated to England (Australia, NZ, South Africa etc) can tell the difference between the accents; particularly Argentines?????
Argentina is a kleptocracy of a scale never seen before in human history. That's why I'm assisting a resort owner avoid paying taxes and shelter dollars abroad. As a reward I'm paying 40% less than normal rates on my family ski trip.
Jun 11th, 2012 - 01:17 am - Link - Report abuse 0We'll pay for other expenses with dollars and should get 6/1 to 10/1 rates so tourism will not be expensive in the coming months.
@50 Iberia do still fly to Latin America; they merged with BA and I am BA frequent flyer so I am very careful NOT to fly Iberia as they are crap.
Jun 11th, 2012 - 02:00 am - Link - Report abuse 0The BA flight from London to BsAs used to stop at Sao Paulo but now it flies direct they have removed the first class cabin.
I don't know if an Australian accent is a good disguise in Argentina. Quite honestly, I didn't think the couple should have been allowed out on their own. I did my best to reasure them they would be just fine but they seemed very anxious about everything.
@46, What makes you think that Clyde15 does not have pictures? My sister lived in Melbourne for 4 years and she went whale/shark watching a few times. Although I don't think she saw them close to the coast. I'm certain that it was via a glass bottomed boat of some sorts. To be fair to Clyde I have heard that whales in some parts of Australia and New Zealand do come very close to the coast.
Jun 11th, 2012 - 07:03 am - Link - Report abuse 0I suppose that is a major downside about living the UK. We don't seem to have much breath taking wild life to watch and appreciate. Maybe we have but it is probably expensive to go watch. It's more than somewhere quite remote and out of the way.
The best hotels in BA charge about the same as in NYC or London! You know the end is near when that happens.
Jun 11th, 2012 - 12:20 pm - Link - Report abuse 0When I moved to BA I was looking at an apt, it had a view of the river, french ambassadors residence and obelisk. I was on the balcony looking at the view and the real estate agent came over to me and said “It's like NYC isn't it?” My response was “You've obviously never been there”.
The last time BA got as expensive or in some cases more expensive than NYC was just before the last collapse.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
I don't think that Iberia and British merged. They both belong to One World with American, among others. Iberia flew Madrid-BA. British flies Madrid-Heathrow-BA. Iberia has the worse customer service, but they give you extra rolls with your meal.By combining flights, they must have eliminated dozens of daily journeys.
Jun 11th, 2012 - 12:36 pm - Link - Report abuse 0If the dollar-peso goes to 9-1, won't prices of goods go up double? I have a 15%discount coupon from Disco . I'm going to buy them out and hire a cartonaro to deliver the stuff to my house on his cart.
@53 Whales come into Port Phillip quite often and about ten years ago there was one in the mouth of the Melbourne river..... you won't see that in BA ..
Jun 11th, 2012 - 01:05 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I'm surprised Thicko hasn't been telling us about the boat trips you can take to see the cormorants in Ushuaia.
@53 yes, the merged and formed the International Airline Group. Oneworld is their alliance with AA, Cathay, Qantas, Finnair etc. I agree though that Iberia has unusually bad service... It seems they are taking over a lot of routes from the UK to Spain...
Jun 11th, 2012 - 01:19 pm - Link - Report abuse 0At least the whales look attractive with their blubber, unlike The Mad Bitch of Argentina and her rubber 'face'.
Jun 11th, 2012 - 05:47 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Who, besides the government of Argentina (and only then for their bribes), GAF about how few idiots go and spend their holidays in the doss house of the south?
Buenos Aires resembling New York ?
Jun 11th, 2012 - 06:24 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The slums in New York are high class compared to the villas....
Also sewer water running by te curve in BA....nasty....
And wires hanging all over ... I remember that....
Do we start to talk about under skirt Queen Elizabeth ?
Jun 11th, 2012 - 08:50 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Mouthloaded ragtag ..
#46
Jun 11th, 2012 - 09:00 pm - Link - Report abuse 0When you asked me about the pictures I took, I thought you were going to send me your email address so I could send samples to you. I have no interest in face book , youtube or any other web postings.
Yes, the video you quote is certainly good and the site is worth seeing. The downside is that you would have to go to Argentina and possibly meet someone as polite and modest as yourself.
As you appear to know little about the movements of Cetacians, here are a few places where you are guaranteed to see whales - Baja California, Hawaii, Azores, Sri Lanka, Kaikoura and Hermanus in S.Africa. and for Orcas, the Shetland Islands.
Try Googling Hermanus and read about it. It was one of the reasons I visited S.A. There is no beach there but 15 metre high cliffs. The whales can be watched almost directly below. They stay inshore until their calves are big enough to be safe from predation by the Great White Sharks.
So, as you don't believe me - or anyone who does not support your countries spurious claim to the Falklands- see what the S.A Tourist board has to say on the subject.
Also, do a little research on the subject. ha ha CHUCKLE CHUCKLE as you would inanely put it
Please support this new page aimed at covering Falklands current affairs and keeping the Falklands free of Argentine rule! Please sign in and click the “like” button on the page to subscribe to our news feeds -
Jun 11th, 2012 - 10:18 pm - Link - Report abuse 0https://www.facebook.com/Britain1592
And the TURNIPS continue with their pathetic talk…., talk…., talk…………….
Jun 12th, 2012 - 04:35 pm - Link - Report abuse 0There is NO PLACE ON EARTH that can compare or come close to Playa Doradillo, Chubut, Argentina in respect of Coastal Whale Watching.
NO PLACE ON EARTH.
~100 - 200 whales take residence on it, each year from May to December.
They calve and mate during that period, most of the time at no more than FIFTY (50) yards from the beach.
I recommend you choose a full moon night with high tide, bivouac at the beach and enjoy one of the most powerful natural experiences, money can’t buy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix8aMogb-gE
(Just another primitive amateur video picked from the hundreds on Youtube)
And when you get fed up of the indolent pace of those lazy singing Argie whales, you can move on to Punta Norte, Chubut, Argentina and watch this other UNIQUE Argentinean cetacean treat……:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix8aMogb-gE
....and then you can wander down to the Falklands Memorial near Retiro and have someone stick a knife in you.......
Jun 12th, 2012 - 06:18 pm - Link - Report abuse 064 hahahaha
Jun 12th, 2012 - 08:50 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Stop all funding to this corrupt country called Argentina bring down this corrupt country and all who govern Argentina.
Jun 12th, 2012 - 09:52 pm - Link - Report abuse 0www.StopFundingArgentina.org
Sign the form now
I once was in bariloche.(when I attended high school in BA) ..I must say the place is beautiful ....really had a good time (and some of the locals deserve to be on Girls Gone Wild Video)
Jun 13th, 2012 - 12:38 am - Link - Report abuse 0Bad news for me I suppose - might take longer to make that trip you're all saying I should make! But its good news for Argentines that under Cristina's leadership they are increasingly able to travel the world and broaden their horizons =)
Jun 14th, 2012 - 09:52 am - Link - Report abuse 0Does that include the Falklands ?
Jun 14th, 2012 - 04:26 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Commenting for this story is now closed.
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