Argentina Investment in Tourist Hotels and Catering is Nearly 1.5 Billion
From 2007 to 2008, the number of initiatives for the hotels and catering businesses located in the principal areas of tourism in Buenos Aires totaled 588, or 1.45 billion dollars. Of the 588, 288 were finished over the last year and 300 are currently in construction. According to the article, “La hotelería turística suma inversiones por casi u$s1.500 M y prevén récord de visitantes,” in Infobae, it is hoped that the number of tourists who have visited Argentina this year will surpass 5 million, maintaining and growing the already large market for such projects. If it reaches 5 million, it will be a record surpassing the 4.5 million who visited in 2007.
Argentina is the second most visited country in Latin America, and Beatriz Nofal, who works for the National Investment Development Agency, says that their objective is to have 6.8 million tourists by the year 2012 who will bring in 6.848 million dollars in foreign currency. Nofal thinks that to reach these numbers, the Argentine government must work to integrate international companies and invest in Argentina’s infrastructure. Foreign investment will support some of Argentina’s economic recovery and show that it is a stable place for more foreigners to bring their money.
Guillermo Brooks, who is the sub-secretary for National Tourism, recently attended the First Conference on Investment in Hotels and Tourism in South America in Buenos Aires. Brooks highlighted the way in which hotels received constant injections of capital from tourism: 33 million dollars in 2007. Tourism is 7 percent of the Producto Bruto Interno (PBI, in English GDP) in Argentina, which is more than beef and hydrocarbons. Only Brazil exceeds Argentina in registered visitors and during 2007 Argentina captured 25 percent of tourism in Latin America.
All of this tourism means development, and one such development is being made by the Starwood Hotel Resorts, who one over 900 hotels world wide. They have ten hotels in Argentina and have three more under construction. In October, they inaugurated the Sheraton in Mendoza City. Ricardo Suárez, who is the vice president of development and acquisitions in Argentina, says that they are very interested in building in Patagonia.
Another hotel chain in Argentina is Hilton, which is planning on expanding the number of hotels it has in the country. They are working on the construction of a five star hotel in Ushuaia and want to begin a hotel in Bariloche, to be completed by 2011. Hard Rock is planning on bringing its hotels to Argentina—where it already has one of its famous cafes. There are tentative plans to invest 100 million dollars in building a luxury hotel in Buenos Aires. All of these well known hotels building in Argentina show that many people are banking on the fact that tourism will continue to rise in Argentina for years to come.
