The tourism sector in Chile is experiencing a positive turnaround following the latest figures released by the Undersecretary of Tourism. As of October this year, more than four million foreign tourists have chosen Chile as their preferred vacation destination. It represents a remarkable 38.8% increase compared to last year and a 7.7% rise compared to the first ten months of 2019, before the social unrest and the subsequent pandemic.
It's important to note that the significant disruptions caused by the outbreak in October 2019, along with nearly two years of post-pandemic restrictions and a rise in crime, led to a severe Chilean tourism crisis.
This situation has been particularly evident in Santiago's nightlife and popular tourist cities like Valparaíso and Viña del Mar.
Verónica Pardo, the undersecretary of the Chilean tourism department, explained that "international promotion has been key, especially with initiatives like the segmentation of Brazil. This has allowed us to open new air routes and significantly increase arrivals from that country, with a rise of 71.2% compared to 2023 and 43.6% compared to 2019."
Last month, 456,569 foreign tourists visited the country, marking the highest number of visitors after January (506,231) and July (460,267) of this year.
Argentinians remain the primary source market for Chile, accounting for 38.5% of all visitors, followed by Brazilian tourists, who represent 16.7% of the total. Notably, Argentinian visitors, who often come for "shopping tourism," increased their numbers in Chile by 60% in the first ten months of the year compared to last October and by 26.9% compared to the same period in 2019.
