SAN CARLOS DE BARILOCHE.– After the enormous influx of tourists who chose this city to spend the extra-long Easter weekend – with occupancy levels that even exceeded those of last January and February –, Bariloche entered the low season. To try to counteract it, the municipality launched BariChecka discount program that will seek to attract the attention of visitors.
Without him Pre-trip –which allowed the reactivation of tourism during the post-pandemic and which had Bariloche among the most chosen destinations–, the local Tourism Secretariat devised BariCheck. Is about a digital card that tourists can download to present later at establishments that are part of the discount program. All the data to access it is found on this site: www.barilocheturismo.gob.ar/baricheck/index.php
Although the Pre-Trip included a refund of 50% of expenses made in advance to be used for tourist services and cultural consumption, the BariCheck offers discounts of up to 30% on accommodation, gastronomy, hostels and campsites, lake and land excursions, as well as car rentals, chocolate shops and gift shops.
The program is valid until May 31. Lake excursions, for example, have a 15% discount, while land excursions reach 25%. The biggest bonuses are given in hotels, cabins, tourist departments and inns. Meanwhile, the discounts in hostels and campsites are 20%.
“In the first week since its activation, BariCheck has had a very good number of downloads. The acceptance is being very positive. In addition, every day lenders and merchants come to the Secretariat to sign up,” said Sergio Herrero, local Tourism Secretary. Until now, There are 165 participating businesses and providers.
Herrero added that, from the municipality, they are strongly promoting the program. “We are marking the beginning of something that we are going to deepen in the coming years, if the national situation continues as it has been until now,” Herrero said.
Downloads
The digital card is not only designed for tourists, but also for locals who want to take advantage of the discounts. In fact, as reported by Emprotur, in the first week since the launch of the program there were already 10,000 downloads.
Néstor Denoya, president of the Bariloche Chamber of Tourism, stated that although they support the BariCheck proposal and hope that it will attract the public, the general situation of the country generates few expectations: “You have to think about layoffs, low salaries. Basically, It is the members of the middle class who make a tourist destination measure well. As long as we continue with this situation, the outlook is going to be difficult, we are going to have a very low seasonlike we haven’t had for many years.”
And he added: “The situation is very complex. We are already thinking about winter, hopefully it will come early and it will start to snow and we will have a little more business volume again.”
Sensations
A similar feeling is experienced in the Bariloche Hotel and Gastronomic Business Association (Aehgba). “We are going through a low season with a very low level of activity in general in tourism. We see a very marked drop in demand from the national segment, which we have been seeing since the end of last year and, above all, since the summer. Added to that a very marked drop in international tourism demand”says Martín Lago, president of the association.
One of the classic postcards of recent years – the city full of cars with Chilean license plates – has ceased to be seen in these latitudes. “Before there was a convenience due to the exchange rate, but since the devaluation or honesty of the official exchange rate we lost competitive advantage and we also lost competitiveness in dollars. We are left with very high costs in dollars,” warns Lago.
Thinking about winter, there are a few more expectations. From Aehgba they indicate that Bariloche will arouse a lot of interest, like every year. “What operators in the Brazilian market convey, for example, is that there is a lot of demand and the truth is that sales are slowly taking shape. This is already happening in different hotels in the city. Compared to other years, we are doing very well in terms of the number of reservations made for the winter, with what is the Brazil segment. Anyway, Foreign tourism is not going to operate in volumes that will compensate for the declines in national tourism. Outside of Chile and Brazil, Argentina is very lacking in connectivity with the rest of the world”Lago adds.
For now, The low season in this destination is progressing with hotel occupancy levels of between 20% and 30%. Although this represents a marked drop compared to the levels achieved with the PreViaje program, they are percentages comparable to the historical numbers of Bariloche for this time of year. Meanwhile, the consumption decision of national tourism has slowed down for the snow season.