With the news coming in from other countries, where vaccination is advancing at a significant rate, businessmen in the sector were until recently excited by the possibility of restoring reasonable levels of operations in the coming months. “Logic suggests that, with vaccination, it is possible to consider regeneration. In addition to all the practical problems that exist, not only in Argentina but in the world, until the tourist wheel turns once more. For now, there is a lot of uncertainty. It is not yet known how all the people who have rescheduled their trips for months will travel. He said to Scoop Marco Palacio, The former president of Argentine Chamber of Tourism.
The strong season for many agencies is associated with the beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere. The United States, the Caribbean, and Europe were the destinations that were moving business at the time. Starting in May, traditions show that local tourists choose those areas to travel. The problem is that the days pass and there is no certain horizon about what will happen in the health matters in the country. “Without vaccination, it would be very difficult to move in today’s world. We see that there is a lot of talk about the arrival of doses, but in practice, very little progress has been made. Argentinians face the risk of becoming second-class citizens in tourism and it will be difficult for them to accept them. In other markets, without taking into account the travelers’ own fears of knowing that they are not protected from potential infection. The wholesaler explained. He cited as an example bilateral agreements, such as those negotiated between Israel and Greece, so that vaccinated populations could move freely in both countries.
In Europe, there is great pressure from tour operators to achieve population immunity as quickly as possible. In Spain, for example, there is a lot of optimism about progress in this direction in England and Germany, two countries that contribute the strongest tourism to Iberian beaches in the summer. Portugal is also in this line, having lost 75% of foreign travelers to the pandemic. Something similar happened on this side of the Atlantic. Tour operators in Cancun and Acapulco are waiting to see when the United States will be able to vaccinate its residents, something that could happen within a few months. If reciprocity is requested, recipient countries should vaccinate their populations as quickly as possible. The arrival of foreign tourists to Argentina is practically paralyzed. Not only does this mean a loss of dollars, which is something that the central bank is directly suffering from, but the entire hotel business and gastronomy is paralyzed. With domestic travelers this is not enough.
In the many agencies consulted, they realize that there is not much interest from Argentines in traveling abroad and they justify this by not being clear about vaccination. “No one can think of buying a ticket or a tourism package for the middle of the year if they don’t know whether they have a vaccine available or not,” they said at the agency.
