Visit Argentina

STRONG PRESENCE OF ARGENTINA IN THE USA WITH TRAINING SESSIONS FOR THE NORTH AMERICAN MARKET

Argentina’s delegation, led by Minister of Tourism and Sports Matías Lammens, Executive Secretary of INPROTUR Ricardo Sosa, and Argentinian Ambassador Jorge Argüello, carried out a new edition of Visit Argentina Connect in Washington, with the aim of establishing connections and business rounds with US tourism professionals.

After the promising editions in Uruguay, Chile, and different cities in Brazil, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Argentina, the National Institute for Tourism Promotion (INPROTUR), and the Argentinian Embassy in the United States of America held today a new Visit Argentina Connect event in Washington, i.e., a training and networking space with the offers of tourist products, destinations, and services in the country.

This event was organised as part of the visit of Minister of Economy of the Republic of Argentina Sergio Massa,and Minister of Tourism and Sports, Matías Lammens, to North America in order to generate commercial bonds with this country.

For this edition (which arranged more than 3,700 business meetings with the Mexican trade last week), more than 60 local tourism professionals and specialised press were present. Several prestigious companies took part, including Aerolíneas Argentinas, American Airlines, LATAM USA, Avianca and United Airlines, Expedia -the OTA most used by the public in the United States- and representatives of the Marriott, Hilton and Sheraton hotel chains. Undoubtedly, these companies’ presence has marked the significance of the event, which is very productive for the development of Argentinian tourism in this post-pandemic recovery landscape.

Minister Lammens said, “We believe that the United States is a strategic market for the recovery of inbound tourism in Argentina due to the high number of arrivals registered this year (I’d like to highlight that, in August, we had 82% recovery compared to the same month in 2019) and to the high purchasing power of North American travellers. If we take into account that currently Americans spend US$ 1,277 on average in our country, the opportunities for growth result more than significant. For this reason and in order to consolidate Argentina’s tourism recovery, we understand that our presence here will add an important value and will enable us to reach and exceed our goals.”

It is worth mentioning that Argentina got to this stage after the very positive first six months of the year in relation to tourism, registering the arrival of one international tourist every 11 seconds. In this framework, it is important to highlight the crucial role of the US market, with more than 160,000 arrivals in the first eight months of the year.

North American tourists are the main market for inbound tourism apart from neighbouring countries. So far this year, they represent 8.3% of all foreign tourists arriving in the country. In addition, so far this year, 51.4% of the income that was registered in the same period of 2019 has already been recovered.

Ricardo Sosa expressed, “If we consider revenues by air, the United States is in second place, and as of January, it has always maintained a recovery level of more than 60%, with peaks of 77% in June, resulting from the increased air frequencies (nearly the same as before the pandemic).”

In this framework, he recalled that “apart from the digital actions, we are participating in fairs aimed at end users, such as the Travel and Adventure Show in California and New York. In addition, in November 2021, we were in Florida and New York holding meetings with operators, and two months ago, we returned to New York to participate in Rethink South America.”

The event in Washington began at 6:00 p.m. with an opening ceremony led by national authorities, followed by a networking space for the attendees. Later, training sessions on Argentina’s tourist products and services were provided, closing with an artistic show accompanied by Argentinian gastronomy and wines.

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