
Argentina’s government is opening a new path to Tierra del Fuego that will give travellers, who once had to pass through Chile to reach the southernmost tip of the continent, the option of skipping Chile altogether.

Recovering 250 cruise vessel calls a year, --as in 2006 and 2008--, is the Chilean government target with the bill it has sent to Congress which would authorize Chilean and foreign flagged vessels to operate their on board casinos while sailing in territorial waters, currently specifically banned.

Mining and Energy Minister Laurence Golborne met with the Citizens’ Assembly of Magallanes Region (ACM) (extreme south of Chile) after the first of a series of meetings intended to resolve the Magallanes’ gas subsidy controversy.

Chilean authorities anticipate that for the season 2012/13, Punta Arenas will be in favourable conditions to compete with neighbouring Ushuaia in Argentina. This follows on Chilean initiatives to cut operation costs for cruise vessels dramatically and the lifting of the ban on floating casinos.

Punta Arenas in the extreme south of Chile is experiencing a significant drop in the number of cruise visitors this season according to the Austral Port Authority, EPA.

It has been a tough and discouraging tourist season this summer for Punta Arenas and its area of influence according to local operators and the hotel industry.

Chile announced Wednesday that cruise vessels operating in Chilean waters will benefit from significant rebates in port access and docking operations with the implementation of recent modifications to the ruling on rates and charges from the Maritime Transport and Merchant Navy Department.

Mina Invierno, a major coal mine project to be located in Chilean Patagonia, has sparked new controversy in the Magallanes Region. The coal mine will be located on Isla Riesco, Chile’s fourth biggest island, just 80 miles from the region’s capital of Punta Arenas.

Chilean president Sebastián Piñera is expected next Friday in Punta Arenas airport en route to Antarctica with his Ecuadorean counterpart Rafael Correa, but will avoid all contact with locals, reports La Prensa Austral.

Seven days of protests and demonstrations, widespread international coverage, and dramatic warnings of violence in the Magallanes Region took their toll on the tourism industry in southern Chile’s Punta Arenas.