Expectations. With the opening of Machupicchu, they await reactivation in Arequipa. Minister of Foreign Trade met with tourism unions to seek options.
The province of caylloma Arequipa is one of the main recipients of international tourism. In its geography, Colca has one of the deepest canyons in the world. Before the pandemic, the annual average number of visits was 289,000, now that number has dropped drastically.
It’s It affected 7,000 families that depend on this activity and that closed their businesses or suspended them due to a lack of tourists.. This amount represents 70% of entrepreneurs in Caylloma, specified the manager of the Autonomous Authority of Colca and Annexes (Autocolca), Wilber Mamani Llica. “It is really critical that thousands, dedicated to the business of hotels, artisans, restaurants, small carriers, adventure tourism, are affected or are left without work.”
Mamani indicated that in the case of autocolca 27 workers were suspended due to the decrease in income from the sale of tickets to the Colca Canyon. In January 2023 they only received 4,700 visitors, with which they collected S/ 97 thousand. Compared to January 2022, 12,000 people entered for S / 250,000. The official expressed his discontent because during the visit of the Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Luis Helguero Gonzales, it was announced that autocolca He will only receive S/ 1 million of the S/ 700 million for his trekking projects in Cabanaconde and Tapay.
Helguero held a meeting with the unions and representatives of the service sector in Arequipa. He was confident of a speedy recovery.
“He Central Reserve Bank He has declared 600 million dollars of losses in these demonstrations”, he replied. He welcomed the reopening of the Machupicchu citadel in the Cusco region, but considered that it should not have been closed.
“This indicates that we are already open to the world,” he declared. He noted that they are with strong promotions from Promperú to reactivate the activity.
Enrique Santana, president of the Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies (AVIT) of Arequipa, pointed out that it is still not possible to talk about recovery.
“The industry cannot be turned off and then turned on in one day. We have to work on the image of Arequipa”, recommended Santana.
He claims that, unlike the north, the south was impacted in its image by the protests. He added that, at the moment, only 5% has recovered the hotel sector and that there are only requests for outgoing packages from agencies, not for entry.
José Bustamante Cano, president of the Chamber of Tourism of Arequipa, assured that a week ago the reactivation began with the opening of Machupicchu. “With this news the tourist gains confidence”; he said he.
Bustamante maintained that They have proposed an intelligent international promotion plan and scale to countries like Mexico with 30 million visitors, Spain with 80 million, France with 100 million. He pointed out that Arequipa’s potential is much more than the Colca Canyon, the Santa Catalina Monastery or the Juanita Mummy. He reported that in 2022, 2,500,000 tourists were reached, and Arequipa has not reached 150,000 foreign visitors.
Order
The mayor of Cabanaconde, Jorge Guerra Bernedo, will insist that he be granted 25% of the ticket that Autocolca charges to those who visit the Colca Canyon. He argued that one of the greatest attractions is located in his town, which is the Cruz del Cóndor, where you can appreciate the flight of the bird. He said that he will invest the money in a project for its residents.
There was a delay in exports
The Vice Minister of Foreign Trade, Teresa Stella Mera Gómez, indicated that she still has no reports of export losses due to the protests. “The grape campaign had finished, which was the product ready to be exported. She left just before. Then there was no important merchandise, ”she maintained.
He recognized that there was a decline in exports. Products that did not come out for US$ 208 million in the region. An impact on delays in exports of other agricultural products and SMEs that had to send clothing.
The vice minister indicated that the entry into the country of bolivian soy by Desaguadero (Puno) last Friday, February 10, it was solved in hours. Now enter through Chile. The input feeds the chickens.
Source: Larepublica
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