Peru estimates tourism losses in US$52 million due to oil spill

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Peru on Saturday made a preliminary estimate of US$52 million in tourism losses on beaches affected a week ago by an oil spill in the Pacific off a Repsol-run refinery, hours after an underwater eruption near Tonga.

The Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Roberto Sanchez, said the damages of the spill fall on “people and businesses that live directly and indirectly from tourism”. During the week, the government indicated that at least 21 beaches were contaminated with crude oil.

“In a normal season, 5 million people would travel to the affected beaches between January and March,” said Sanchez.

He added that the economic loss “is immense and would be around” US$52 million.

Sánchez said that the tourism chain “has been lethally damaged” and reported that “several businesses are losing everything. This is the case of hotels, restaurants, travel agencies, tour operators, umbrella stands, and others, thousands of jobs are being affected”.

On Saturday, under an intense sun, workers dressed in white suits and boots were extracting the oil accumulated on Cavero beach, one of the most affected. The workers had placed more than a dozen empty barrels, which they filled with crude oil and sent to a tanker.

A group of activists also rescued seabirds that could not fly. The government has described the spill as the “worst environmental disaster” in recent times in the capital.

A week ago, 6,000 barrels of oil fell into Peru’s sea, considered one of the richest in the world for its biodiversity. Reporters said that the beaches of the Peruvian coastline in front of the capital looked almost empty on Saturday.

“People don’t come because they know the beaches are contaminated,” said Juana Mamani, a candy vendor on Ancon beach.

Spain’s Repsol said the day before that it expects to finish cleaning up the areas affected by the oil spill in front of its refinery in Peru by the end of February, while the country prohibited the Italian ship from which the crude oil was being unloaded from sailing when it was hit by a strong swell attributed to an underwater volcanic eruption near Tonga.