Tourism Falls But More Argentines Travel Abroad
International tourism in April fell 6% from the same month a year ago, making this the seventh consecutive annual decline since October.
But while the numbers are down, the decline wasn’t as bad as it was last month, when tourism plummeted almost 20%. Meanwhile, the number of Argentines traveling abroad surged in April, rising almost 17% from a year ago, indicating that not everyone is suffering from the economic slowdown.
The number of visitors to Argentina fell to 183,096 in April, compared with 194,787 a year ago. While here, tourists spent around $210 million, down about 24% from a year ago, the national statistics agency, INDEC, reported Tuesday.
In April the average tourist spent about $83 day, roughly 20% less than a year ago. Brazilians spent the most of any specific country ($124), followed by Chileans ($115), and Americans and Canadians ($85). Europeans spent the least at $61 a day.
The average tourist stayed in the country for about 14 days, with Brazilians spending the least amount of time here (5.9 days) and Europeans the most (almost 23 days). So Brazilians spend a lot in a short amount of time while Europeans save their money for a longer stay. On average, Americans and Canadians stayed about 20 days.
Tourism brings in about $4 billion annually to the Argentine economy, according to official estimates.
INDEC’s measurement is based on the number of visitors who arrive to the country via Ezeiza, or EZE, the airport located outside Buenos Aires. About half of the country’s tourists arrive through EZE.
Popularity: 12% [?]
of course travel is going to be going down when airlines that almost have monopolies like lan are charging 1300 to 2000 usa dollars for ecoonomy class trips to buenos aires from places like new york. i can fly to almost any where else……ie london paris rome etc for about 700. when it comes down to choices, argentina is going to loose. its sad to let the airlines cut off the much needed tourist dollar to many business in argentina.
its about time someone in the government realizes how this dollar “bottleneck” is affecting their economy
It seems counterintuitive to me that the number of Argentines traveling abroad would be increasing, especially amid the global recession. It would be interesting to compare the numbers of Argentines traveling abroad today versus the number of Argentines traveling abroad in 2000. My thesis is that the real income (adjusted after inflation) of salaried workers has been declining since the departure of De La Rua due to lack of foreign investment and overall negative economic climate.
Thanks
Ramiro
the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
the price of a ticket doesnt matter if you re rich. and while the gap is widening, there are still plenty of rich people.
I never understood or agreed with the cliche “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer”. In a economic situation as the one in Argentina, in general terms, if the country’s economy shrinks as a whole, I contend that the rich don’t get richer, the majority of them get poorer just as the poor get poorer, since the “pie” has shrunk. That’s why I believe that since Argentina is poorer now than 10 years ago, I don’t see how the traveling abroad of Argentines shows an increase. Seems counterintuitive, as I said before. Thanks