MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Tourist arrivals in Chile keep growing but concentrated on Argentina and Brazil
Eugenio Yunis cautions that the EU and US market remain stalled International arrivals in Chile in the first half of the year showed a significant growth of 15% compared to the same period a year before, having totalled 1.850.048 tourists, according to the Chilean Tourism Barometer compiled by Fedetur, the Federation of Tourism companies from Chile.
The stats point out that the second quarter increase was similar to that of the first quarter with an average increase in April-June of 16.5%, compared to 2011. The best month was April (up 21%) with 267.203 arriving foreign tourists and positive variations for all the originating markets.
Arrivals to Chile from Colombia, Brazil and Argentina increased 30%, 27% and 26% respectively in the first half of 2012. From Europe arrivals were up 5% and from the US they remained almost at the same level. But Argentina remains as the main originating market for tourist arrivals in Chile with a 26% increase in the first half of 2012 with almost 780.000 tourists.
“The positive balance can be explained mainly because of the strong arrivals growth from Brazil and Argentina, countries where the impact of the European financial crisis have yet to be felt strongly and also because of the intense promotional campaigns launched by the Chilean tourism office and other private efforts in those markets”, said Eugenio Yunis, Fedetur Vice-president.
Yuris points out that even when the Barometer figures are positive and growth is most encouraging, it is an effort concentrated mainly in the Argentine and Brazilian markets, while arrivals from Europe and the US remain “a bit stalled”.
“This concentration is risky and we must double efforts with greater impact on those long distance markets and particularly in the high income brackets of those markets, which don’t seem to be suffering from the brunt of the crisis”, concluded Yuris.
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Read all commentsYou are all a bunch of fucking fools. You all claim to have travelled up and down Argentina (of course I believe none of you), and how shockingly poor it is. lol
Sep 06th, 2012 - 10:23 pm 0What you don't realize is how pathetic, ridiculous and doltish fools you are writing such things. If you travelled up and down the country is because there was the infraestrucutre, the cities, the economic motive for you to do so. And the fact that it was safe enough for you to do so.
You fools have no precious clue what real poverty, lack of infraestructure, and insecurity and risk to oneself is don't you?
You spit on Argentina yet you yellows woudn't dare to travel through Central America, Venezuela, the Amazon, most of Africa and the middle east, big chunks of Asia, etc, etc.
You like creature conforts and some sense of safety... you played it safe and stuck to Argentina. I understand. You are like those ungrateful immigrants that bash the country that received them. Argentina this argie that... but none of you have the guts to go to really poor and unsafe place, so you bash us.
Your welcome for being exposed. :)
And tourism to Argentina and Brazil themselves remain strong?
Sep 06th, 2012 - 11:27 pm 0Yes, TTT,
Sep 12th, 2012 - 04:37 pm 0I do feel unsafe in the favelas of Brasil, but it is not the fact that I have experienced them that enables me to comment on Argentina, it is the perspective gained from travelling and working around the world.
And B_K,
tourism remains strong in B.A. and Rio, but there is much more to these two countries than these two coastal tourist honey-pots.
Lula has spread the World Cup and Olympic football around this huge country of Brasil to afford visitors a wider view of the nation, but SO much needs to be done to make Brasil a tourist destination of choice.
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