Foreign tourism in Uruguay during January injected 535 million US dollars to the economy, which is higher than the first two months of a year ago (515 million US dollars), according to the latest release from the Ministry of Tourism.
Argentina’s first official gay ‘Ego’ cruise will leave the port of Buenos Aires December 2011 and will be calling at Uruguay’s capital Montevideo and the international resort of Punta del Este, it was announced by organizers in the Argentine capital.
During January (summer high season) Uruguay received 413.780 tourists, 40% more than a year ago, with the Argentines leading the inflow, according to the latest figures released by Migration Office and the Ministry of Tourism.
Uruguay expects 200 cruise calls this 2010/2011 season totalling 300.000 visitors between passengers and crewmembers said the country’s Tourism and Sports minister Hector Lescano during the official launching of the cruise season.
Next November 13 the Holland America Line “Veendam” will be calling in Montevideo with 1.400 passengers signalling the official beginning of the cruise season in Uruguay expected to extend until April 4.
More than 1500 participants from the banking world are expected to attend the November assembly of the Latinamerican Federation of banks, Felaban, to be held in Punta del Este, Uruguay.
Sales of real estate in Uruguay’s internationally renowned resort Punta del Este and its area of influence reached almost 1.5 billion US dollars between January first 2009 and the first half of 2010, according to the Tourist Office from the County of Maldonado.
Royal Caribbean announced that during the coming tourist season several of its ships will make 27 stops between Montevideo and Punta del Este in Uruguay. The announcement was made by Michael Ronan, Royal Caribbean's Vice President of Government Relations, Caribbean, Latin America & Asia, in a meeting with different Uruguayan authorities held in Montevideo.
The Uruguayan government announced intention of making banking secret accounts “more flexible” and expanding income tax to overseas holdings and assets have delayed investment decisions and accelerated the sale of real estate in Uruguay by foreigners, particularly Argentines, warned the Uruguayan Chamber of Tourism.
A Uruguayan cruise industry expert has brought up an interesting debate about the whole business for South America if Chilean port and auxiliary services costs remain so high that they end convincing some of the cruise companies to drop the traditional Pacific and Chilean leg of the tours.