Uruguay plans the next tourist season

The National Director of Tourism, Roque Baudean, met with several directors of tourism and the Uruguayan Chamber of Tourism to mark what will be the work between the Ministry of Tourism and the private sector, with the aim of involving all stakeholders and taking decisions, some that correspond to the public function and others that are of interest to the private sector

The meeting took place in Maldonado, where Baudean said that he presented the events agenda, in which the Ministry of Tourism will participate and also what is going on to be the agency's advertising campaign.

Baudean also referred to tools that are provided by the Ministry of Tourism for a better marketing of the Uruguayan tourism offer and expressed that he collected some recommendations for different actions that he believes are "extremely interesting."

In turn, in meetings scheduled at the level of departmental tourism directorates, such as next September 30, take actions to different people or tourism products, which will then be developed in the region according to the behavior of the tourist at the level. international.

For this next summer season, Baudean predicts that domestic tourism will continue to be predominant and that we will have a regional tourism movement.

We understand that we are going to have a regional movement and domestic tourism will continue to play a leading role, at least in this upcoming summer season.

In relation to the new Minister of Tourism, Tabaré Viera, Baudean said that "he is a person who knows how to work very well as a team, which he has shown in his different efforts and that he has a very long career".

The idea of ​​Viera is teamwork between the different hierarchies of the Ministry of Tourism and all its staff and to put the entire team of technicians to work in the territory, especially planning and reaching all territories. "We are going along that line, we are happy," said Baudean.

Regarding the planning of work with the private sector, Baudean said that it has to make decisions in relation to such planning. "The private sector has to follow the same common thread and not separately from the public sector," said Baudean.

Regarding the international transport movement, Baudean said that its numbers will not be the same as in January 2020, until a few years from now, "no matter how much we wanted and no matter how much we have the will to receive many extra-regional people" , Held.

Baudean stressed that for the Executive Branch, what comes first is the health of Uruguayans, and the desire of the National Director at the regional level is that vaccination in neighboring countries be more agile.

He recalled that the roadmap is to open the borders from September 1 to the owners who are vaccinated and then from November 1 to tourists in general vaccinated.

In this sense, Baudean expressed caution in planning according to the economic and health conditions of the region. He prefers to plan with reasonable situations that can happen and not with speculation.

Regarding the next Cruise Season, Baudean said that it is an issue that Undersecretary Remo Monzeglio handles through meetings with different international cruise companies. "The schedule of requests for arrivals has been very important, a lot for both Montevideo and Punta del Este," he said.

In this sense, Baudean recalled that the decision that there is a cruise season does not depend only on Uruguay, it is defined by a circuit also made up of Argentina and Brazil, between the public and private sectors. The National Port Administration (ANP) and the Ministry of Tourism work for Uruguay.

With reference to the participation of Uruguay in the International Tourism Fair (FIT), Baudean confirmed the presence of our country in said event, with the aim of being able to cause the best impact of Uruguay, since the participation will not be conventional, rather it will have a series of protocols. "We must attract the attention not only of the professional public, but also of the general public who will visit the fair," said Baudean.

Finally, on the support for operators, Baudean stressed that there was a package of measures that helped the pandemic to pass in a better way. Baudean also did not forget those operators who closed and stayed on the road. And he referred especially to travel agents, whom he referred to "as the sector that suffered the most."

Baudean highlighted the importance of travel agents in relation to the connectivity of our country, "because air routes are roundtrip routes," said the chief. In that sense, he expressed that the country needs strong air routes, with tourists going from one side to the other.

Without air connectivity it is very difficult to attract the extra-regional public in an interesting way. How many more airlines Uruguay can have access, will be better for our tourism. There is no tourism development without transportation development, Baudean concluded.