Chile: Government expects to announce relaxation of foreign tourist entry next week
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – As part of her participation in a panel at the IATA Wings of Change Americas conference this week in Santiago, Chile’s Undersecretary of Tourism, Verónica Kunze, commented a few moments ago that they expect “that next week there will be announcements regarding the arrival of tourists”.
“We are talking, and we are working. And in this government, we consider that some restrictions were imposed and that given the current situation, it does not make sense to maintain them,” added the official.
Kunze, who is part of the brand new government of Gabriel Boric, who took office just three weeks ago, also mentioned that “a new governance has been generated on decision making related to the pandemic that has among its objectives to incorporate sectors that were not in that process although they were affected by them”.
Chile currently requires that foreign tourists register with government agencies, which must “validate” the vaccines received in their respective countries, which is almost playful given that it can take a few days or weeks. The sworn declaration and the PCR test at the origin are added to this. Finally, passengers are randomly subjected to a PCR test upon arrival in Chile.
Regarding this process, Kunze said that “for us, it does not make any sense; it is an obstacle that makes us lose competitiveness and makes people choose other countries as a tourist destination instead of Chile”.
After the official’s announcement, the CEO of JetSMART and also a panelist, Estuardo Ortiz, jokingly said that he wanted to “applaud” when he heard her words, adding that in January, inbound tourism in Chile was 96% below pre-pandemic values, as an example of the negative impact of entry barriers.
“We have to give certainty to passengers that they can do tourism. We will be surprised that the demand will still be there. Chile is an attractive country for tourism,” Ortiz concluded.
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