Holy Tourism: BA shoppings like the Galerias Pacifico are a magnet for domestic and international visitors.
The Buenos Aires tourism engine just keeps chugging faster and generating more jobs and revenue in the process, according to a new report from the City of Buenos Aires. The Tourism Board and Ministry of Culture shared the new data at the conclusion of this week’s Expoeventos 2011 at the Centro Costa Salguero.
Tourism in Buenos Aires is a multi-billion dollar juggernaut which now employs one of every eight workers in Capital Federal. The 337,000 Buenos Aires tourism jobs represent a 4% increase over a year ago. In an excellent summary of the tourism data, La Nacion’s Pablo Tomino says 13% of BA employees work directly or indirectly in the sector which now accounts for 7.6% of Buenos Aires’ total GDP.
In terms of total revenue, Tomino says over 10 million visitors spent US$3.41 billion in Buenos Aires, while an additional US$1.3 billion was generated thanks to local investment geared toward attracting more tourists in the coming years. The total number of visitors arriving at BA airports, ports and bus terminals rose 29% in 2010 compared to 2009.
Looking at the tourism numbers by foreign country, Brazilians topped the list of foreign visitors with 800,000, a phenomenal 86% increase over the previous year. Chileans accounted for 33% of BA arrivals and Uruguayans ranked third with 22%. Domestic arrivals rose 22% over 2009 with 3.2 million Argentines spending at least one night in a Buenos Aires hotel, a healthy 30% increase over 2009. (Full Story in Spanish)
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