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Uruguay Tourism
Tourism in Uruguay generated an estimated US$300
million in
1989, equivalent to 22 percent of merchandise exports. The
tourist industry depended mainly on visitors from
Argentina.
Thus, not only were tourist receipts seasonal (peaking in
the
warm summer months, January through March), they also
fluctuated
along with economic conditions in Argentina and relative
exchange
rates. In 1989 about 85 percent of the 1 million tourists
were
from Argentina; an additional 10 percent were from Brazil,
and
smaller percentages came from Paraguay and Chile. Many of
the
visitors from Argentina owned property in Uruguay,
especially in
the resort area of Punta del Este, which drew half of all
summer
tourists.
In 1986 the Sanguinetti government created the Ministry
of
Tourism to regulate hotel and resort prices and to promote
Uruguayan tourist attractions at international
exhibitions. The
ministry also developed programs aimed at attracting
visitors and
conventions to Uruguay during the low season, but with
limited
success. At the same time, the government supported the
improvement of hotels, marinas, and camping facilities. To
protect the beaches, a key tourist attraction, the
Montevideo
sewage system was being upgraded in 1990 so that it would
discharge more than two kilometers offshore. Despite such
efforts, tourism was expected to remain mostly regional
because
of the long distance from Europe and the United States,
lack of
services (Uruguay had no five-star hotels), lack of
promotion,
and restrictive transportation policies (for example,
charter
flights were difficult to get).
Data as of December 1990
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