“In Uruguay we describe ourselves by working not on price but on quality. And in that sense, I think we still have a lot to do,” said the president of the Uruguayan Chamber of Tourism.
This week the National Tourism Meeting was held. There, the consulting firm Ceres presented figures on activity in Uruguay. And among other data, it is known that, for tourists, our country is 66% more expensive than Argentina, 44% more expensive than Brazil, 31% more expensive than Chile and 27% more expensive than the United States.
“Uruguay is a country with a small market and that makes us always at a price disadvantage. Because of this, as a chamber we propose some things to the government that allow us to have some prices that are more competitive,” said Marina Cantera, president of the Chamber of Tourism of Uruguay.
For this competition, the chamber requested a zero-rate VAT for tourists in Uruguay. Today they are exempt and that will be extended, but the operators confirmed that at zero rate they can deduct VAT on purchases.
Apart from the price difference, they also maintain that there are other factors that influence the choices of tourists.
“In Uruguay we describe ourselves by working not on price but on quality. And in that way, I think we still have a lot to do. The most we can think of in this Ceres presentation is that there is a lot to be done in tourism,” added Quarry.
Tourism, which used to be 8.4% of GDP, is now less than 6%. Recovery is slow. The connection is 10% below what it was in 2019, although a year ago it was 30% below. The number of tourists is similar to 2019, but spending is lower.
