Argentina continues to strengthen in many ways its vocation to become a premiere travel destination for world voyagers. While the South American nation has already jumped to stellar positions in tourism demand in the region, the government authorities, national, regional and local; together with the private sector and multilateral financial organisms, are planning ahead to boost tourism in such a way that it becomes one of the main sources of income and employment for the country, while benefiting thousands of businesses and local communities across the vast Argentine territory. To accomplish these purposes in a visionary manner, the Tourism Corridor Development Plan was recently launched, counting with the important support of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The program intends to increase the tourists’ spending; extending the tourist seasons; motivating longer stays and developing new, better and more integrated tourism products and services. The idea is to improve the use of the country’s most recognized tourism attractions. Thus, the Plan will fund several projects in six high-potential areas, where the Corridors will be developed, on the Cuyo, Littoral and Patagonian Regions. In monetary terms, the IDB approved a loan for US $ 80 million, with an outlook to increase tourism spending in the six corridors by US $ 66 million over the next five years. The loan is for 25 years, with a five-year grace period and a Libor-based interest rate. The local counterpart’s funding, sums up to US $ 25 million. The project also includes benefits for over 5.200 firms with direct or indirect links to tourism and will generate 85 civil works and projects to be carried out to fulfill the main objectives. The program will finance strategic civil works to link the six corridors with innovative attractions and circuits, as well as a new set of products, targeted at attracting additional tourism investment. In presenting this major Plan, the IDB’s leader for the project, Adela Moreda, expressed that “since positioning Argentina on the international travel markets depends heavily on its natural attractions; to increase tourism visitation requires the strengthening of protected areas and related destinations as key components of the country’s tourism offer”. The program seeks to promote a shared and integral vision of the future of tourism on each corridor, by means of creating a technology platform which will use joint management processes and procedures to integrate the different public policy-makers and the private operators, suppliers and outfitters. The extensive plan includes training activities and management capacities to be strengthened for municipalities and groups o private operators with a special emphasis on the inclusion of the native peoples along the corridors. To round up its very complete nature, the Plan also contemplates assessments and environmental monitoring of the selected areas, updating and creating, where necessary, the management and public use plans for the protected areas; space-management plans for urban sustainability and programs for the prevention and mitigation of potential, direct, indirect or cumulative environmental impacts on the chosen areas and destinations. Thus, mid and long term planning have also taken a special prominence, as part of Argentina’s strategies to continue enhancing and improving its already booming tourism potential, while looking at its growth with the necessary precautions for social and environmental sustainability.
SHARE
PRINT
March 3, 2012
Related Trips
About Adventure Associates
