Uruguay received a total of 583,821 visitors during the second quarter of the year, according to the most recent data from the Ministry of Tourism. With Montevideo and the thermal coast as star destinations of the coldest seasons, the Argentines were the tourists who spent the most in the country.
The second quarter of the year had a lower performance than the same period last year: from receiving a total of 757,802 visitors, between April and July 583,821 tourists arrived in the country; that is, 173,981 fewer people (22.95%). In both cases, however, Montevideo was the most chosen destination, with 196,925 visits, while the thermal coast came in second, with 112,278. This year, meanwhile, East Point surpassed Cologne in third place, with 78,059 visits against 71,192.
Cologne was the city that suffered the most from the drop in tourists, with a total of 50,453 fewer visitors than last year, when 121,645 people chose the city for tourism.
Tourist spending
As for the nationality of tourists, the Argentines led the list with 267,661 admissions during the second quarter of 2024, followed by the non-resident Uruguayans (138,331), Brazilians (71,593) rest of America (38,167), Europeans (23,582) and North Americans (19,421).
Likewise, visitors from the neighboring country were the ones who spent the most in the national territory: 130,502,576 dollars, followed by non-resident Uruguayans (42,086,937 dollars), Brazilians (40,061,015 dollars), Europeans (22,976,876 dollars) and North Americans (14,992,505 dollars).
An interesting fact is that, although there were fewer Argentines entering the country —274,847 between April and July 2023—, the spent was higher than the $100,335,499 of that time, even with a higher exchange rate and moderate inflation in local prices.
By category, the income from foreign currency was led by accommodation, which generated 86,491,546 dollars. This was followed by food (84,070,557 dollars), shopping (40,878,056 dollars), transportation (29,370,191 dollars), cultural and recreational (28,731,545 dollars), other (19,093,049 dollars) and finally tours (1,200,320 dollars). In the second quarter of 2023, spending on food was the highest.
Finally, the Ministry of Tourism analyzed the expenditure by areawhere Montevideo reached a total of 123,615,389 dollars in foreign currency income, while the thermal coast reached 21,982,620 dollars; Punta del Este 79,897,239 dollars; and Colonia, 13,970,783 dollars. Per person, meanwhile, spending was 627 dollars in the capital, 195 dollars in the thermal springs; 1,023 dollars in the resort and 196 dollars in the Rioplatense department.
Source: Ambito
