Record highs in Argentine tourism

The ongoing summertime tourist season in Argentina will come to a close with as many as 15.8 million tourists, a record high in the history of this industry in the country, and $1.9 billion worth of revenues based on booking numbers, as well as hotel and real-estate occupancy rates, official sources said.

The government is upbeat now because Argentines will not be able to travel abroad as easily as in the past when both the local currency and the U.S. dollar were up to par, a situation that ground to a halt with the devaluation of the peso occurred in January 2002. Argentines now will be bound to trek around their own country, instead.

Moreover, since the Argentine currency has lost over two thirds of its face value to the dollar, visiting the South American country has panned out to be a whole lot cheaper for foreigners who now count on an assortment of landscapes and tourist attractions.

During the 2001-2002 season, a grand total of 12.1 million tourists generated a little more than $1 billion in Argentina. The numbers posted the season before had reached 13.9 million visitors and $3.8 billion.