Since January to August of this year Chile received 2.35 million foreign tourists, which is 1.1% fewer than during the same period in 2012.
The Assistant Secretary of Tourism, Daniel Pardo, said that although in the first semester Chile recorded a slight decrease in the arrivals of international tourists it is still a very good result. For the second consecutive year, the country managed to attract more than 2.3 million foreign visitors, which is the highest number for the last six years. According to Pardo, the amount of arrivals surpassed those of 2008 by more than 40%.
“The greatest number of tourists comes to the country through Santiago International Airport. Approximately 4 out of 10 visitors go through the airport, recording an increase close to 20,000 arrivals in the January-August period (+2.2%)”.
The decrease in the number of tourists during July-August 2013 was caused by the drop in arrivals of Peruvian (-12%), Brazilian (-7%), American (-5%) as well as Argentinian (-3.1%) tourists. However, Pardo highlighted the number of Bolivians (+7.4%) and Colombians (+6.5%), while the European tourist arrivals increased by about 3%, influenced greatly by the massive arrivals of Spanish (+8.1) and French (+5.5%) visitors.
The downfall in arrivals to Chile contrasts with the significant increase of tourism numbers in the neighboring countries, such as Peru with 11% more visitors, Colombia, Paraguay, Bolivia and Ecuador, all with grow rates over 5%.