MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Very promising cruise season in Ushuaia: Ten vessels calls this week

Some of the vessels scheduled this week, National Geographic Explorer; Ocean Diamond; National Geographic Endurance, among others.

Ushuaia, in Tierra del Fuego province, extreme south of Argentina is reporting a very encouraging cruise season and anticipated this week a peak of calls in expected. In effect some ten cruise vessels will be calling at Ushuaia, and local businesses are preparing for the significant event.

According to the Provincial Ports Authority scheduled vessels included, National Geographic Explorer; Ocean Diamond; National Geographic Endurance; Plancius; Ocean Nova; Scenic Eclipse; Le Commandant Charcot; Expedition; Stella Australis; and Sea Spirit.

Ushuaia authorities point out that arrivals in November are mainly of small of midsized cruise vessels, (80/160 meters), but come December and the large vessels (300 meters) will begin calling sailing down the Beagle Channel.

Although local businesses are preparing to receive the mostly European and US visitors, interested in local gastronomy, regional tours and other local amenities, Ushuaia authorities point out that they expect the summer season to be as positive as happened with the winter months.

This is because the Argentine government sponsored a program, including subsidies, for its citizens to visit different locations in the country, cutting down on overseas tourism and the hemorrhage of foreign currency. This helped enormously to the recovery of Ushuaia tourism industry, plus regional visitors, Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, who took advantage of a very favorable exchange rate (expected to continue for several months) o enjoy the skiing season.