RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – With the gradual reopening of borders and release of flights, regional agents are now looking forward to recovering the losses incurred in 2020 and 2021.
The pandemic outbreak paused the growth of a sector that in 2019 registered the entry of over 1 million tourists from all over the world, an increase of 2.93% over 2018. In addition, domestic tourism was also on the rise, with more than 2.5 million Paraguayans traveling to the country’s several tourist destinations, generating a revenue of US$131 million for the economy.
The blow was harder considering that the country with the highest number of tourists is Argentina, with 69.80% of visitors, followed by Brazil with 16.07% and Uruguay in third place with 1.56%. All are neighboring countries that closed their borders for a long period of time due to restrictions on movement and directly impacting domestic tourism.
PARAGUAY’S INBOUND TOURISM AND 2022 PROSPECTS
Looking to the future, with the advance of vaccination and the gradual reopening of borders and bridges, the outlook is changing: several Paraguayan tourism companies are now focusing on inbound tourism, which aims to attract people from other countries to visit tourist destinations, as well as to encourage residents to get to know different locations in their own country.
One of the companies focused on inbound tourism is Discover South America, operating since 2009. The company’s general manager Vanessa Torres spoke about the situation for 2022 and how to boost the sector in Paraguay.
Torres said that the tourism sector is still heavily affected, despite having hosted the Skating World Cup in October, which resulted in low turnover and failed to offset so many months of losses.
Considering the 2020 and part of 2021 losses, Torres said: “For me in particular, given that I did not get into debt to withstand the pandemic, I would say that with a good year of much flow or at least what we had been achieving up to 2019, it will be the break-even point again.”
THE IMPACT OF HOLIDAYS AND TOURIST FLOW
Paraguay’s tourism industry has been positively influenced by the holidays or extended weekends that favor a greater inflow of tourists in the country.
The Secretariat of Tourism (SENATUR) launched the campaign “Abrazá Paraguay,” which seeks to highlight and promote the country’s attractions, emphasizing the wide variety of hotels, inns and points of interest. This helped tour operators and agencies to promote their packages and tourist offers.
REACTIVATION OF TOURISM IN PARAGUAY
The tourism sector in Paraguay began to be reactivated in July 2020, when domestic tourism was allowed in some areas of the country, and several public and private events were enabled, provided that the biosafety protocol was respected.
According to the protocol currently in force in Paraguay, events of up to 200 people may be held in closed venues and 350 in open spaces.
With respect to expectations in the tourism sector with the arrival of tourists from all over the world, Torres added: “I am particularly interested in the flow at the borders, because I have packages for Germans and Scandinavians that include the Waterfalls on both sides and connections with Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro.” Lastly, she said that, from her perspective, “the real impact of this authorization will be felt by 2022.”