The travel trade in Chile last year generated the tourism revenue of 4,200 million dollars, which according to the authorities reflects the intense international promotion.
The undersecretary of Tourism, Javiera Montes, said that the increase in foreign currency income is explained by “the greater number of arrivals of foreign tourists, but also because during 2017 the permanence of tourists in the country increased.” To this is added “the decision of the (Chilean) government to invest more in the international promotion” of the country, which contributed to the entry of 6,449,883 foreigners to Chile during the past year, 14.3 percent more than in 2016
“We closed the year with a historic record in terms of arrivals of foreign tourists,” said Montes, adding that “among the main source markets there are the Argentines, with 3,323,771 tourists.” He also assessed “the arrival of tourists from the European market to the country, which increased by 6.3 percent over the previous year, which is equivalent to 477,911 tourists from that continent.”
He highlighted the increase of 22.9 percent of tourists from Asia, in particular the Chinese, who had a growth of 33.8 percent last year compared to 2016. He explained that this phenomenon is related to “the facilitation of visa for tourists coming from that country (China) when they have a prior visa to the United States.”
Montes commented that Chilean tourism “has a strength that is not only associated with accommodation, but with the entire value chain around it, such as transportation, food and commerce, among others aspects.”
Argentine tourists left about 353 million dollars in tourism revenue in Chile last year, 51 percent more than in 2016, while Brazilians left 490 million dollars, 57.6 percent more than the previous year. As for the projections for 2018, it is expected that the total arrival of tourists to Chile will register an increase of 8.5 percent over last year, which would add about seven million foreigners in the country.