2023-05-15 03:05:00
In recent months several officials have repeatedly alluded tohe phenomenal growth experienced by tourism in Bariloche in the post-pandemic period, but there were no precise references. Now the municipality has put figures on this escalation and revealed that in 2022 the number of visitors exceeded the average for the 2015/2019 five-year period by 65.2%.
From the 80s onwards, the planners and strategists of the activity used to insist on the goal that Bariloche break the ceiling of one million tourists a year. Since the municipality has kept regular statistics (2006 onwards), the numbers have remained in a range that seemed immobilized between 700 and 800 thousand, with the exception of 2011, when it fell to 530,000 tourists/year due to the volcano crisis.
But everything changed in the founding 2022. After a 2020/2021 biennium of insignificant numbers, due to the restrictions imposed by Covid 19, Bariloche broke all records, pierced the mythical ceiling that seemed unapproachable and reached the 1,160,733 tourists.
always according to official survey published by the municipality, the average permanence per visitor bordered 5 days and the number of overnights sold throughout the year was 5,373,377when the average in the pre-pandemic was 3,394,000 “occupied places”, as they are called in the reports.
The mayor Gustavo Gennuso went further and implied that this 1.16 million tourists is already short and Bariloche walks at a rate of 1,400,000 tourists per year, that is, double that of just five years ago. He said it during the annual meeting of the Argentine Federation of Travel and Tourism Agents, which was held a few days ago in the city.
In response to a subsequent query from this medium, he stated that this projection is not an expression of wishes, but rather it emerges from the preliminary numbers for the January/April period, not yet published.
A fact to underline is that Bariloche was far from accompanying this explosion in demand with an increase in installed capacity. The survey of the hotel situation determined that in 2022 the global supply of authorized and official places throughout the city was 29,187below the historical top that was registered in 2020 with 30,174.
When weighing this data, any attentive observer will take it as confirmation that the informal sector -that is, the apartments and houses that are offered outside the regulated circuit- enjoys better health every day.
The collection of the tourist tax can also mislead the record numbers of arrivals and overnight stays, since between January and March of this year it was recorded that this tax contributed 94.3 million pesos to the municipal coffers, when last year in the same period there were 59.1 million. It was not even enough to overcome inflation.
A more even tourist curve
When reviewing the tables in search of the reasons that explain the increase in visitors, the first conclusion is that if it was possible break the million visitor barrier It is because the low seasons tend to disappear, as officials and businessmen in the sector also take care to underline every time they are asked for a performance evaluation.
From the table that compares tourist arrivals month by month and year by year, it appears that 2022 was clearly better than all the previous ones both in January and July, but by little difference. For example in the top month of last winter the city received 122,094 peoplewhen the previous decade the number fluctuated between 90,000 and 112,000.
But if the April/June quarter is taken, the difference is notable. For example, in May 2022, 71,532 tourists entered Bariloche, and for that month the previous average did not exceed 22,000.
Something similar, although with less pronounced jumps, occurs in the historically depressed months of October, November and December, which last year did not fall below at least 85,000 tourists/month.
An alarm signal in foreign tourism
The graphs show the alarm signals in the section that measures the influx of foreign tourism. About 15 years ago the proportion of national visitors reached 2:1. That is to say, Argentines represented almost two thirds of the total. In 2006 the city received 63.7% of national tourists, and the rest were divided between 19.6% from neighboring countries and a significant 16.7% of foreigners of other origin.
This proportion of foreigners had already decreased notably in recent years and was accentuated in 2022, when foreigners fell to 9.9% of the total, and those from non-bordering countries fell to 3%.
Mayor Gennuso recognized that the multiplication of tourist activity in the last year and a half has not yet had the expected correlation in the foreign segment, with the sole exception of those from Uruguay. He said that the influx from that country “increased by 300%” compared to the pre-pandemic figures and spoke of a process that is underway for Aerolíneas Argentinas to establish a direct Montevideo-Bariloche air connection.
He also said that Chilean tourism meets expectations because it is “20% above” the figures from three years ago, while Brazilian tourism has not yet managed to replicate the volumes of then.
The accommodation, in full transformation
Another section of the statistical survey that is worth analyzing is the one that disaggregates accommodation places by category.
According to the Municipal Secretary of Tourism, Bariloche suffered a pronounced decrease in the offer of four and five star hotels. Currently, it only has 1,764 jobs in this area, less than half that of 2008, when the cap was registered with 3,972 jobs. These numbers seem to correspond to the pronounced drop in foreign tourism, which usually stays in these types of establishments.
Although the absolute values show growth, operators tend to admit the constant loss of “high-end tourism” as a problem to be solved.
In contrast, there is an increase in the offer in student hotels, which went from 5,761 registered beds in 2007 to 7,979 registered in 2022.
And even more striking is the increase in “apart hotels and tourist rental apartments between 1 and 3 stars”, which in 2007 totaled 4,171 places and today are the most offered segment, with a total of 9,102.
Something similar happens with the table of actually sold accommodation, obviously. The 4 and 5 star sector came to represent 16.5% of the total in 2007, while in 2022 it only represented 8.5%, even below the historical average, which reaches 10.5%.
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