As anticipated by the Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Juan Carlos Mathews.
Peru's domestic tourism would reach 34 million trips in all of 2023, which would mean a growth of more than 25% compared to the number registered last year (27 million), predicted the Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Juan Carlos Mathews.
“This year we are making the leap from 27 million to 34 million trips. The important thing to highlight is that these figures will be reached despite the events that worked against us such as social conflict, Cyclone Yaku, the dengue epidemic, among others," he highlighted in an interview with the Andina Al Día program on Andina Canal Online.
He asserted that this recovery was achieved thanks to the coordination between the Central Government and more than 300 tourism operators in the sector from the 25 regions of the country.
"To have this growth there was a very close coordination with the tourism sector unions, with tour guides, restaurant chains, with hotels, airlines, transportation companies, among others," he said.
DISCOUNTS
He explained that this coordination managed to offer significant discounts on tourist packages in the market with the aim of regaining tourist confidence and thus encouraging purchasing decisions.
“The offer ranges were between 28 soles (US$7.5) and 2,000 soles (US$535.7) and in that range you had all kinds of alternatives. The promotions were attractive, so if the tourist was in doubt, the 20% or 25% discount that they would offer allowed them to make the decision quickly,” he noted.
“In addition to the articulation, what I highlight is that citizen tranquility has once again been recovered thanks to the fact that citizens are behaving positively and this scenario is generating traveler confidence to recover,” he noted.
Based on that scenario, he estimated that domestic tourism would return to pre-pandemic levels in 2024.
“It is possible that domestic tourism will return to pre-pandemic levels in 2024. Investments and infrastructure are being made in the south, in the north, in the jungle, because confidence is recovering,” he said.
COUNTRY HOLIDAYS
In that sense, the minister revealed that the tourist activity generated during the long holiday for National Holidays exceeded expectations.
He reported that projections pointed to 1,400,000 visitors and an economic movement of US$ 178 million, but, as of August 1, more than a million and a half visitors were registered and a generated amount of US$ 189 million.
“We are happy because what happened on July 28 and that entire long weekend is a reflection of how the recovery of confidence is coming and we see that we are doing well and at the end of the year we would close with important figures,” he noted.
RECEPTIVE TOURISM
He indicated that these results were influenced by the dynamism that inbound tourism is beginning to register, which generates up to nine times more resources than national tourists.
In this regard, it projected that in 2023 inbound tourism will grow more than 10% and will go from two million tourists reached last year to 2.2 million.
Finally, he commented that during the National Holidays one of the places that benefited the most was the Cusco region, despite the problems it presented due to excess demand, "but luckily we acted quickly and did not register any major inconvenience."
“I was able to know that the people of Cusco are satisfied and can now affirm that tourism returned to Cusco. For our part, we are coordinating with the regional government, the Cusco Chamber of Commerce, Machu Picchu, among other authorities, to work hand in hand and consolidate the recovery of tourism in Cusco in the coming years,” he emphasized.
