MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine trips abroad fall 21.2% as Brazil and Uruguay lead arrivals

Among tourists arriving in Argentina, 36.1% came from Brazil and 16% from Uruguay

The number of Argentine residents leaving the country in July fell 21.2% year on year, to 1.22 million people, according to the international tourism statistics report released on Tuesday by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses. In the opposite direction, 830,200 foreign visitors entered the country, 17.9% more than a year earlier.

Of the residents who left, 697,200 were tourists and 531,100 were same-day travellers who did not spend a night abroad. Brazil accounted for 22% of outbound tourism and Paraguay for 15.2%.

Growth in inbound tourism is largely explained by same-day visitors. Of the 830,200 foreigners who entered the country, 466,200 were tourists, an increase of 9.1%, while 363,900 were same-day visitors, a category that jumped 31.5%. The latter are concentrated in border cities or on day trips to Buenos Aires and have a considerably smaller economic impact.

Among tourists arriving in Argentina, 36.1% came from Brazil and 16% from Uruguay. Third place went to the residual category “rest of the Americas”, with 10.8%, ahead of Chile, which in June had been the third largest source market with 12.8%.

The balance of exchanges remained unfavourable for Argentina: some 398,000 more residents left than visitors arrived. In the first half of the year the accumulated deficit was 3.49 million travellers, with 2.9 million foreign tourists against 6.38 million residents travelling abroad.

The fall in outbound tourism consolidates a sustained trend. In June the year-on-year decline was 22% and across the first half it was 13.2%. The shift reflects the relative rise in the cost of travelling abroad for Argentine residents following exchange rate movements, after two years in which an appreciated peso drove departures to record levels.

In monetary terms the imbalance also persists. During the second quarter foreign visitors spent 608.8 million dollars in Argentina, while residents spent 1,360.7 million abroad, leaving a negative balance of 751.9 million. Average daily spending was 87.3 dollars per person for foreign visitors and 105.8 for Argentines abroad.

Argentine tourism flows remain heavily concentrated within Mercosur: Brazil leads both arrivals and departures, and the top three origins and destinations correspond to countries in the bloc or neighbouring it.