After two years immersed in a pandemic, Ecuador has taken an optimistic balance from the last carnival holiday. It was not a holiday that equals the results of pre-pandemic times, but it did give some breathing space to tour operators who longed to reactivate.
In the main tourist cities there were hotel occupancies that exceeded 45% and a significant mobilization of visitors was reported, especially in those that scheduled concerts or festivals.
The Ministry of Tourism indicated this Wednesday that during the days of carnival $48.9 million were generated by tourist spending. The amount represents an additional 28% to that generated on the last holiday of 2021, according to the previous evaluation.
Niels Olsen, Minister of Tourism, described this holiday as “successful” in terms of travel, occupation and tourist spending.
About 2 million Ecuadorians are estimated to have mobilized in this four-day holiday. The average cost per tourist trip was estimated at $65, with an approximate hotel occupancy of 46%, which represents an increase of thirteen percentage points in relation to 2021.
For the Government, the figures for this holiday are related to correct decisions, such as the reduced value added tax (VAT) rate of 8% on tourist services and the increase in capacity for outdoor and indoor places.
Beach destinations were among those in demand on this holiday. Among those spas that had the most daily visits were General Villamil with 28,500 people, Crucita with 22,670, El Murciélago with 19,150 and Chipipe and Salinas with 16,600, according to statistics shown by the national Emergency Operations Committee (COE).
In the case of Crucita, the beach of Portoviejo, the events that produced the greatest attraction were those organized by the council of this canton.
Diana Bravo, director of tourism for the municipality of Porto Viejo, estimated that only on Monday, February 28, the night in which the international concert by Colombian Diego Morán was given, some 50,000 people arrived at this beach.
“This generated a reactivation process in both hotels and restaurants and the entire tourist value chain of the town,” said Bravo.
Agustín Intriago, mayor of Manta, indicated that the arrival of visitors to this Manabi port met the expectations of reactivation in accordance with the projections that had been generated among the actors in this sector.
Of the hotel capacity, Intriago maintained that it took over more than 90% on average in Manta, even in some they had a level of 100%. Mayor Mantense pointed out that the city presented shows on most of its beaches, trying to get visitors to disperse on each of them.
In Puerto López, for example, it was estimated that some 25,000 people arrived during the four days of carnival, which would have left the sector about 600,000 dollars, although that figure could vary, according to Ángel Pincay, an official from the tourism department of the municipality of Puerto Lopez.
One of the negative notes of this holiday was the excesses that were reported in resorts on the Santa Elena peninsula. In the Montañita commune there were people drinking and sleeping on the beach. Videos circulated on Sunday of intoxicated people crawling on the sand in the middle of a beach littered with debris.
In Salinas there were reports of young people dancing on top of cars and performing tricks on moving vehicles. Others also stopped cars and shook them.
Olsen acknowledged that there is still a lot of work to do in educating tourists to respect the beaches and protected areas. “Tourism should be a vehicle for conservation and development,” she said.
| Carnival Holiday Results | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| Tourist spending (in millions of dollars) | 38.2 | 48.9 |
| Hotel occupancy (in percentage) | 33 | 46 |
| Average rate (in dollars) | 57 | 70 |
| Travels | 688,000 | 752,000 |
| Source: Ministry of Tourism |
In addition to the beaches, the provinces of the central Sierra captured an interesting movement of tourists. Ambato and Cuenca were cities that captured part of these tourist trips. Ambato authorities estimated that more than 120,000 people attended the Fruit and Flower Festival.
During the four days of the holiday, Cuenca was visited by 56,500 people. Hotel occupancy was 71%. In total, the last two weekends, the city received 17 million dollars, 14 for the carnival holiday and 3 million for the Tour de France, according to the Municipality.
Emergencies have decreased.
During this holiday, the ECU911 system reported 51,237 emergencies, which represents a decrease of 21% compared to the 64,531 registered last year.
The cantons with the most emergencies were Guayaquil with 9,837, Quito with 9,132, Ambato with 2,080, Santo Domingo with 1,557, and Riobamba with 1,277.
Juan Zapata, director of the national COE, said that the situations linked to libators stood at 7,034 alerts and 4,151 related to scandals.
The accidents in Guayas
A holiday with 3 deaths, 93 injuries, 69 serious accidents and 133 minor accidents was recorded in Guayaquil in terms of traffic, according to figures from the Traffic and Mobility Agency (ATM), an agency that deployed 827 agents in the city as part of the plan carnival operation, between Friday, February 25 and Tuesday, March 1.
According to the ATM, on the road to the coast there was an exit of 103,905 vehicles destined for the resorts of Guayas and Santa Elena, between Saturday, February 26 and Tuesday, March 1. The day with the most trips was Saturday with 31,546 cars; the one with the fewest departures was on Tuesday with 17,972. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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