The rhythm of the July holidays in Uruguay It has been “slow,” said the Minister of Tourism, Tabare Viera, from the first numbers analyzed by the portfolio he directs. The occupancy levels in the east and on the thermal coast are low, she confirmed.
The tourism sector is still unable to fully raise its head after the strong impact of the health emergency due to the Covid-19, and the winter holidays did not mark a different course. Rather, quite the opposite: the first half of July had a lower performance than expected by the authorities.
Although there are still no precise statistical data, the “raw” numbers from the Ministry of Tourism —coming from Migrations— indicate that the sector comes at a “slow pace”and that there are more exits than income to the country.
“Some operators of Cologne that they would be in a fifty%, especially on weekends, they tell us that it is very low in the east. It started very slowly, I was personally in the dayman hot springs, It has started very slowly”, said Viera, in this regard.
This is due, in part, to the fact that many Uruguayans choose to travel to Argentina instead of visiting local tourist sites, mainly for the advantages of the exchange difference, which makes the neighboring country much cheaper. In addition, the ministry confirmed that there have been cancellations of Argentine tourists due to concern over the water emergency in the country’s metropolitan area.
The tourist authorities, meanwhile, expect that during the second fortnight the number of visitors from Argentina and Brazil will increase, coinciding with the start of their winter holidays.
The impact of the water crisis
Tourism is also affected during the winter holidays by the water crisis in the country, as Minister Viera himself acknowledged. According to the official, there were “some cancellations in some hotels” in Colonia carried out by Argentine tourists, as a result of what they considered a problematic situation in terms of water.
Viera attributed the situation to the “exaggerated” media coverage of the problem in the neighboring country, to which he added the president’s statements Alberto Fernandez, that last weekend he had commented that in Montevideo “they open the faucets and the water does not come out”.
According to the Minister of Tourism, “there are not a large number of reservations well in advance” and he specified that “they are around the 50% in Cologne”. In any case, he tried to reduce the drama by assuring that the winter rest “is not in high season, it is more for people who do internal tourism.”
Source: Ambito
