Just a few months ago, hundreds of tourists came to the country because the difference in exchange rate benefited them. However, after the last devaluation in December, the trend reversed and the Argentina became expensive in dollars for neighboring countries. In that context, the Chileans and Brazilians lost between 38% and 42% of purchasing capacity so far this year.
The data comes from a report carried out by the Institute for Studies on Argentine and Latin American Reality (IERAL): “In the first two months of 2024, the figures for operations in the foreign exchange market They also reflect important changes in trends.”
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Historically, inbound tourism is one of the generators of foreign currency, made up of the expenses made by international travelers in the country. In that sense, the report indicated that The total revenue stream remained “close to $5 billion over the past decade.”except for 2020 and 2021, which were years of travel restrictions due to the pandemic caused by the coronavirus.
Last year, the income generated by tourists coming to Argentina reached US$5,442 million and was higher than in 2019, being the second best record in two decades. This practice was encouraged by the exchange rate. The visitors brought dollars that they exchanged for pesos in the parallel market and, in this way, They got items at a third of the price they had to pay in their countries of origin.
However, in the first two months of 2024 the figures for operations in the exchange market warned of a different situation. According to the report, this is due to the notable decrease in the exchange gap and the overloaded “tourist†exchange rate: “Tourism income settled through the exchange market multiplied by 3 compared to the same period in 2023, while expenses (now made more expensive by a higher exchange rate, but also with consumption taxes in abroad) were reduced by around 23%, explained the specialists.
In this context, it was observed sharp drop in tourists’ purchasing power that arrive from Chile and Brazil, «something that can be extrapolated to the majority of international tourists, regardless of their origin.»
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Chileans lost 42% of their purchasing capacity from December to the present, while Brazilians lost 38%. As they stated, “this situation does not immediately impact tourism flows, but It will certainly have medium-term effects on the level of activity.”
On the other hand, the report states that the ability to purchase goods and servicess tourists abroad by Argentines grew 57% (measured in blue dollars) and 20% (measured in “tourist” dollars) in the same period.
In any case, they warned that «it will not necessarily translate quickly into an increase in outbound tourism, because the population suffers the consequences of the macro adjustment of recent months, but it could occur in the medium term.»