The number of foreigners who visited Argentina last March reached 1.051.000 personaswhich meant a increase of 6.0% year-on-yearaccording to the latest update of the International Tourism Statistics (ETI) released by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec).
Of the total number of visitors who entered Argentina, 631,100 were tourists (visitors who stay at least one night in the country), which represents a 26.7% increase with respect to the same month of 2023.
At the same time, there was a strong descent of the so-called ‘excursionists’who are foreigners who enter the country without spending a night in its territory (they enter and leave during the day), a phenomenon that is concentrated in border cities or in one-day visits to Buenos Aires by air, land or river: in In March, 419,900 hikers arrived in the country, which represented a 14.8% less that in March 2023.
Without a doubt, the exchange gap that existed last year, which moderated since the devaluation carried out in December 2023, and the high inflation in Argentina, made ‘shopping’ tourism less attractive for Chilean, Uruguayan and Brazilian neighborsa very marked phenomenon until the end of 2023.
This was reflected in the origin of international visitors: according to the Indec report, until February the order of arrival of visitors was Chile, Brazil and Uruguay, but in March this ranking the Europeans ‘snuck in’: the first issuer of tourists to the country last March was Uruguay (17.8%), the second was Europa (16.1%); third Chile (15.3%) and in fourth place Brazil.
Departure of Argentines abroad
Regarding outbound tourism data, the Indec report states that in March 1,029,000 residents left the countrywhat represents 7.1% more than a year agoof which 666,800 were tourists and 362,200 were hikers.
Santiago de Chile. More Argentines go out ‘shopping’, and fewer foreigners come to buy in the country. Photo Shutterstock.Thus, in March there was a positive balance of 22,100 international visitors by all access routes to the country, although when the data is disaggregated, it appears that this result was achieved above all due to the positive balance in excursionists (+ 57,700), since in terms of tourists, the balance was negative: they left the country 35,700 more tourists than those who entered.
Los main destinations of Argentines Those that traveled abroad in March were the neighboring countries: Brazil (32,7%), Chile (16,2%) y Uruguay (13.8%). 49.4% of resident tourists left the country by land; 40.9%, by air; and 9.7% through the river/sea route.