Bolivia: Tour operators complain travel requirements scare tourists away

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The flow of foreign tourists in Bolivia decreases and is due to the four requirements that the national government demands to enter the country, such as the PCR test against Covid-19, an affidavit, travel insurance, and the migration registration platform; the latter generates complaints in visitors due to the bureaucratic procedure and sanctions, according to the Bolivian Association of Inbound Tour Operators (Abatur).

“The tourist at the border is already with those four requirements and the filling of the platform; they decide not to enter Bolivia. Many tourists have stayed in Puno (Peru) wanting to enter Bolivia, but seeing so many requirements, they have turned around and gone to other places in Peru. We are driving away tourism,” said the president of Abatur, Jacqueline Riveros.

On April 25, hundreds of owners and representatives of tour operators marched through the streets of the municipality of La Paz, demanding the annulment of Supreme Decree 4574, which regulates the migration law and requires the registration of tourists in a computer platform created by the General Directorate of Migration. They consider that there is damage to the economic reactivation of the sector.

But Riveros explained the regulations further and pointed out the four requirements that discourage tourists from entering Bolivian territory. He said Peru only requires proof of vaccination and a health affidavit. He affirmed that the neighboring country “is overflowing” with tourists, and Bolivia is taking advantage of this effect.