Official figures confirm a decrease in the flow of visitors to the neighboring shore in the first quarter. In addition, the growth of Brazil as a vacation destination at the start of 2024 stands out.
The adjustment that Argentina is processing means that this destination is no longer as attractive as it was a few months ago, when Uruguayan travelers crossed en masse to spend and consume on the other side of the pond.
Already in February, there was a drop in Uruguayan trips to Buenos Aires, and expectations from operators that the flow of tourism to the neighboring country would normalize as the weeks went by.
These expectations seem to be confirmed, at least with the first official data of the year released this week by the Ministry of Tourism.
Outbound tourism numbers say that, between January and March 2024, a total of 679,303 people crossed into Argentina. This is 25% less than what was registered in the same period of 2023, when the number of travelers residing in the country who had chosen that destination had been 902,620. Meanwhile, the money disbursed totaled US$247 million in current terms.
A month ago this newspaper reported that the exchange gap is narrowing sooner than expected, according to several analysts. How much more expensive will Argentina become?
This week the director of the Economic Situation Observatory of the Catholic University, Javier de Haedo, stated that taking the month of October of last year as a reference base, in this month of April the CPI will have accumulated a variation of 138%, the dollar official one of 148% and the free dollar (formerly blue ) one of only 6%. This will have led to an increase of 123% in the case of tourism and shopping activities, he explained.
On the other hand, last March the Border Price Indicator (IPF), prepared by the Economic Observatory of the Catholic University (UCU) of Salto, showed that prices on average were only 50% more expensive in that city compared to Concordia.
These data reaffirmed a significant decrease in relative price differences, something predictable if the inflationary and exchange rate evolution in Argentina and Uruguay in recent months is taken into account, to the point that the difference measured by the indicator was reduced to the lowest level since April. 2019. In September of last year Salto was 180% more expensive than Concordia. The gap had been reduced to 157% in November 2023 and to 97% last January.
Before the pandemic, in 2019, Uruguayans spent about US$500 million per year on the neighboring shore. That level of spending rose to US$1.2 billion in 2023, which was a record. With the change in scenario and the price correction, the spending dynamics should not be of the same magnitude, and that should boost consumption within borders, various analysts have pointed out.
More trips to Brazil
Of the 986,510 residents in Uruguay with trips abroad in the first three months of the year (the same person may have left several times and for each departure they are counted as an additional tourist), there were 250,000 who went to Brazil.
This sun and beach destination was one of the favorites during Carnival, driven among other things by the greater offer of flights, following the improvement recorded in air connectivity. It was also one of the most chosen destinations in the tourism week vacations.
The flow of travelers to the territory of the northern neighbor showed a growth of 46.4% in the interannual comparison, and the total expenditure amounted to US$ 136 million. The average stay was 8 days, and the daily expense was US$66.
