“Colonia del Sacramento is facing a historic opportunity, in terms of tourism and comprehensive development”

Later he studied engineering at the University of Morón. “In 2000 a very bad moment began for Argentina and construction activity collapsed. I started looking for some alternatives and found a vein in real estate development, being directly the manager of the business“continues the businessman.

Nine years later, on a getaway to east endCastellano and his partner got off the ship and Saint Ana They decided to enter a real estate “to show off the vice, of the curious, because the real estate developer has that gene.” In summary, on the way back from that trip they ended up buying an entire spa (Dream) that had been subdivided in the year 47 and had been abandoned. “I met a person who had wanted to revive it, that he had not been able to and that he had everything for sale. We looked for investors and bought almost 400 lots. Later we began to come with people interested in buying the product, giving value to that product, positioning it in the market. It is a very nice resort that combines the forest with a very beautiful white sand beach. We set in motion a gear that is already over a decade old”, reviews the president of the Cologne Tourist Association and clarifies that “the undertaking is for residential use and also for tourist purposes, since it has a good rental dynamics from a public that chooses it to rest”.

Cradle for Argentine investors

Argentina is the first issuing country not only of tourists, but also of investors from Uruguay, and from the city of Colonia in particular. Castellano decided to buy land and chose the land where the hotel is located today dazzler cologne and two shores, a mixed building with the concept of Condo Hotel. “We joined the study Vanguard Architectswho accompanies us in most of our endeavors, are lifelong friends”.

The launch of the project in Buenos Aires was unusual. In two days of pre-sale functional units were sold for 5 million dollars. “It was another Argentina, another context,” says Castellano, who on that tour met his life partner for 11 years. “My wife (Débora) was the first salesperson in the building’s showroom”.

Years passed, 2016 arrives and Castellano is invited to preside over the Developers Association, which he still leads today. It is an association of real estate developers, but it is also made up of other entrepreneurs from different sectors. “We are not many, but we are strong”he affirms and clarifies: “not because of the economics, but because of what each one has achieved, because of the representativeness. We all have a vision, a look at the future and that helps a lot to think”.

Journalist.: In the midst of a pandemic, you assume the presidency of the Tourist Association of the department of Colonia.

Andrew Castilian: Yes. September 11, 2020. This is a camera of cameras. There are developers, real estate agents, hoteliers, gastronomists, renters, tourist guides, artisans, river transport and the department’s warehouses, which is a space created recently. It is a very representative space, an ideal space to generate transformations. One from anywhere can, of course, generate something, but when the space has power and representation, it is possible to transform. The board of directors is a luxury, everyone is committed to the future of Cologne.

Q.: Do you have public-private articulation?

AC: The association is private, but the axis of our management is public-private articulation. We needed four legs and a bridge. The four legs are:

• A management plan: professionalize management because institutions of this magnitude generally cannot hire a professional in charge to carry it out, because we leaders have a finite time, we have our companies, we have our businesses, we have to take care of our things , and we can spend some time, but not all.
• A professional to carry it forward: we brought in Andrea Schunk who is our Executive Director, who had been director of tourism here in Colonia, then went to the ministry and then was director in Río Negro.
• Financing: when we took over, the fee that was collected by the partners, with respect to the budget we wanted to reach, did not even reach 5%, so we had to generate a budget. There, before taking office, we sat down with the Mayor, Dr. Moreira, we presented the idea to him, and of course he supported us. That was the kick of the joint. I am grateful for what we have done from day one with the mayor, especially with the tourism department, both with Roque Baudean when he was director, and with Martín de Freitas today, and with the mayor and his entire team, of course. .

Q.: And the fourth leg?

AC: Committed leaders. You need at least a large group of 8, 10, 12 leaders who are committed, who work hard, and I take my hat off to that, because there is a team of top-level leaders. We created four representative work committees, which are subcommittees but are named that way by statute: financing, events and cultures, marketing and promotion and regularization of informal tourism circuits.

Q.: Is the latter intended to find a solution to unfair competition?

AC: That’s right, between the rentals of functional units by the platforms, against the regulated hotels. It is necessary to regulate urgently with a law so as not to lose the installed capacity. It is a long-term job. We are now working on two laws that are already in the hands of Minister Tabaré Viera, who did not express his support. It is already discussed between the minister and Ferres, the secretary of the presidency. It is necessary to look for the mechanisms so that they pay taxes, it is neither more nor less than that. Nobody wants that market to disappear. But we need fair competition.

Q: How is the relationship with the Executive?

AC: Excellent. We have very good reception. Sometimes things can be done, sometimes not so much, but the National State is always present.

Q.: Argentina has always been the main source of visitors to Colonia. How do they work abroad to seduce other tourists, such as Brazilians, Europeans, Asians?

AC: The medium-term challenge is for more Brazilians to visit us. Colonia has been growing in this segment until the pre-pandemic. We have to do a very strong job in Rio Grande do Sul. Colonia del Sacramento was the first city in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, founded by the Portuguese in 1680. When the Portuguese left, expelled by the Spanish, they founded Pelotas. So many feel a bit Uruguayan. There we are working for a twinning. Of course it has to have content, that goes in the public part, we stimulate it, we manage it. Our challenge is to triple the number of Brazilians who visit Colonia.

Q.: And they have a lot of products and services to grow them

AC: Very much. In this context, the wine route is very important. We have summoned the wineries of the department of Colonia to group together, creating Bodegas de Colonia. Before, there were Bodegas de Carmelo, which were 7, plus 6 wineries that were in the rest of the territory. We seek that they have, without losing their identity, an association that unites them. This is how Bodegas de Colonia was formed. Wine is a very powerful driving force for tourists, and especially for the Brazilian public.

Q.: Do the wineries have good infrastructure and services to offer quality wine tourism?

AC: They are fine, growing. Of the thirteen wineries in the department, all have tourist services. You can visit them, take tours with tasting. Some of them have accommodation, and others are yet to be built. We also have the cheese route, going to Nueva Helvecia. The products that Colonia has are excellent; wine, cheeses, dairy products in general, sweets and olives, which are world class. This must be promoted, because tourism is no longer the product or the destination, today tourism is experiences.

Q.: How to seduce the Argentine tourist taking into account the macro in Argentina and other obstacles to travel abroad such as the PAIS Tax (30%) and the 35% that is withheld on account of Profits?

AC: It’s all an issue. Anyway, we recently did a study that we asked Price, which is a survey of the tourist basket of Colonia compared to Mendoza, Mar del Plata and Buenos Aires. And he said that Colonia is more expensive than Buenos Aires, but cheaper than other destinations in Argentina.

Q.: What is that basic basket based on?

AC: In one night in a 4-star hotel, a quick meal, another in an average restaurant, a liter of fuel, a taxi drop, a coffee, a mineral water and some other supplies. The news that arrives from Argentina about the high prices in Uruguay in most cases is not true. Hotels, for example, are cheaper here than in Argentina. But if they only grab the supermarket, an executive menu from Buenos Aires, and also what they buy in tourism in Argentina they buy with Previaje, clearly they are going to give the numbers in favor of Argentina. It’s wrong to do that, it’s not serious.

Q.: Today Colonia is the only destination in Uruguay completely seasonally adjusted?

AC: I think so. It is the only one that has tourism all year round, and I am going to tell you something else; Colonia is the only place in Uruguay that you do not need to emancipate yourself from Buenos Aires to live. The only one in Uruguay, due to its proximity. It is also a very fertile destination to invest. It is a unique product, and represents a great opportunity at this time. Some tell me: “You’re crazy, there is a simultaneity of negative situations in the region, in addition to the general situation in the world”, but I consider that this is the ideal time to bet on destiny. The Más Colonia project, for example, is a transformative project.

Q.: What is it about?

AC: Mas Colonia is a real estate development project on a fraction of land that leaves Ferrando, towards the airport side. It covers the entire coast. That land belongs to Carlos Batista, a 91-year-old Argentine who lives in Colonia. His son Eduardo is a developer, owner of Plaza Logística. Carlos had several attempts to develop that land, one with Costantini, another with some Spaniards. Now Eduardo Batista said: “we are going to develop it ourselves”. The difference between this project and the previous frustrated ones is that it is leveraged in the employment matrix for ABC1 in Buenos Aires. The other unsuccessful acts were like putting together a country house in Colonia to sell it to porteños with high purchasing power. In this case, it is the establishment of knowledge industry companies in Cologne. It is open, it is not a closed neighborhood. With the convening of that level of companies, they guarantee you 500 employees for each one, and you begin to transform the matrix. It is also an industry that pays very well. They have already confirmed that the most important developers from Argentina will come; a specialist in urban housing, another specialist in buildings, plus some renowned Uruguayan companies linked to real estate.

Q.: What projection does the enterprise have?

AC: The general project was marked for 20 years, but the first impact, on thirteen hectares, is fast. The place is dreamed, it has 7 kilometers of beach.

Q.: What challenges do you see for Cologne?

AC: We are facing a historic opportunity, in terms of tourism and comprehensive development. Colonia is the ideal place to live. And it’s not just Colonia del Sacramento, the entire department has great potential. It is the main exporter of Uruguay. The most interesting thing is that there is still a lot to do. We are in the good way.