According to an industry group on Monday, Chile’s tourism sector apprehends a whopping 38.2-per cent decline in the number of visitors during its yearly peak tourist season between December and March.
The National Federation of Tourism Companies (Fedetur) blamed the drop on Chile’s social and political unrest, and on the economic crisis gripping Argentina, its main source of tourists.
Fedetur expects just over 1.28 million foreign visitors over the four-month period, the lowest figure since the global financial crisis dented tourism in 2009-2010.
In the past five high seasons, Argentina has ranked as Chile’s No. 1 source of visitors (6.26 million), followed by Bolivia (918,578), Brazil (750,750), Peru (701,982) and the United States (505,106).
