Incoming tourism in Uruguay coming from Argentina and Brazil will grow a 7% during the 2023-2024 season—compared to the previous season—according to projections from the Economic Research Center (Cinve)mostly due to the entry of a substantially greater number of Brazilian tourists.
The tourist season is a big question for the authorities, who see how every day thousands of people cross the border into Argentina through the exchange difference, while from the neighboring country there are not as many as usual who visit Uruguay, for precisely the same reason: the important difference in the exchange rate that, for Argentines, makes the country a very expensive destination, especially in times of electoral and economic uncertainty like the ones they are going through.
In this context, the Cinve researcher, Silvia Rodríguez Collazoprepared a study regarding the perspectives on tourist flow both for this year and for next, mainly considering outbound and inbound tourism to and from Argentina and Brazil. These projections are what indicate that, next year – considering the season from December 2023 to March 2024 -, the number of visitors that the country will receive from these neighboring nations will grow 7%.
This growth would be driven, mainly, by the Brazilian tourists, while the number of Argentine visitors is expected to reduce by 3%, due to the difficulties inherent to the exchange difference. Likewise, incoming tourism will continue to be below the record levels of the 2017-2018 season, by approximately 30% — even though the numbers continue to improve positively.
The scenario projected by Cinve shows the consolidation of a trend that already began to be observed last season: the increase in the importance of Brazilian tourism in the Uruguayan tourism balance. A situation that is also being taken into account by the government, which, also driven by the situation, is betting on various initiatives to encourage visits from Brazil.
This was explained by the National Director of Tourism, Roque Baudean, to Ámbito.com. “Uruguay It has the loyalty of a high market segment in Argentina. “We are working on promotion and also on advertising in the Argentine market on a permanent basis and we have also been working a lot on what has to do with Brazil, where we have the highest income numbers in history,” said the official.
“Today we are multiplying the frequencies and air routes with that country, and in the case of southern Brazil where many people can also access it by land,” said Baudean.
Recently the minister of Tourism, Tabare Viera, released official figures that indicated a 30% increase in Brazilian visitors in the first months of the year, a highly positive fact that contrasts with the possibility of the reduction of Argentines and the strong exodus of Uruguayan tourists to that country to take advantage of the exchange difference.
Argentine tourism, an uncertainty marked by the exchange rate difference
Although the projections of incoming tourism are positive for the approaching season, the truth is that the forecasts around Argentina —the country that represents the majority of the tourists it receives Uruguay- They still have more doubts than certainties. In principle, the forecast indicates that the number of visitors will fall around 3%but the economic development of the country after the elections and after the inauguration of the new government may be decisive for the variation of this figure.
This situation will also have an impact on the outbound tourism towards the neighboring country, which would already reach record numbers this year, while it is expected that at the end of 2023 they will have left 3.3 million people from Uruguay to Argentina —to which another 600,000 are added to Brazil—; a figure that will break all previous records in this line.
This will make the tourist balance be again negative along with the other impacts that the exodus of Uruguayans to the neighboring country has not only on tourism but on the national economy as a whole. In fact, according to Cinve estimates, this year the balance between entry and exit of tourists to and from Argentina and Argentina would more than double. Brazil, being able to reach 1.6 million people.
On the other hand, if only visitors to and from the northern country are considered, the balance could be positive in about 78,000 people.
Meanwhile, the price scenario is not expected to change enough in Argentina during 2024 to have a significant impact on the tourism balance.
Source: Ambito
