RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Uruguay is studying the option of allowing entry to tourists who have been vaccinated against Covid-19 or have had the disease and are now immune.
This was confirmed by the Uruguayan Minister of Tourism, Germán Cardoso, in statements to the press, where he said that he himself had proposed this option in the last cabinet meeting.
“It is under consideration by the scientific experts of the GACH (Honorary Scientific Advisory Group) and the Ministry of Public Health to reach a decision,” said Cardoso.
In this respect, he emphasized that “surely” the so-called health passport will be a global trend and added that Uruguay will be attending a World Tourism Organization conference where the issue will be addressed.
Uruguay’s summer season has been strongly impacted by the measure to close borders due to Covid-19 given that its tourism industry is based on visitors from neighboring countries Argentina and Brazil.
In this respect, Cardoso noted that the final figures on the extent to which this measure impacted the sector are not yet available, but stressed that the Ministry succeeded in encouraging Uruguayans to focus on domestic tourism.
“That proved successful in a very complex scenario. The fact that Argentines and Brazilians, who are our main clients, could not come has produced huge losses,” he said.
He also pointed out that Uruguayan spending on tourism was higher but that, for logical reasons, it fell below the spending levels of foreign tourists in the country.
“Now we are confident that we can plan for the second half of the year as we were unable to do in the course of 2020 and in the first half of 2021, with the population immunized and vaccinated and ready to welcome foreigners,” he said.
The Minister also made reference to American Airlines’ announcement that it will discontinue its direct flights between Uruguay and the United States and stressed that it is negative news for the South American country.
“I spoke with (Uruguayan Foreign Minister) Francisco Bustillo yesterday to take action before the US government representation in Uruguay with the aim of reversing this situation,” he concluded.
Source: Swissinfo