The activity featured presentations by experts and leaders in the sector and the National Tourism Promotion Secretariat, who analyzed the situation and shared their points of view.
The Argentine Chamber of Commerce and Services (CAC) and the Argentine Academy of Tourism offered the conference “Connectivity and competitiveness of the national tourism industry” , where experts and leaders of the sector analyzed the situation and shared perspectives.
Carlos Montaldo (president of the Tourism Commission of the CAC and leader of the Association of Tourism Hotels) presented the day, he announced that the objective would be to “face issues that are a challenge in a year in which we are finished leaving the covid and projecting what we want from tourism for the period 2024-2027”; at the same time he added: “Through tourism the country can be a generator of foreign currency and employment.”
Next, Ángel Machado (deputy secretary of the CAC) delivered a welcome message, in which he referred to the work of the Entity and assured that “in recent years it has placed the accent on education”; and that “he has organized the activity with great zeal because he understands that tourism is an important engine for the economy.”
For his part, Carlos Gutiérrez (president of the Argentine Academy of Tourism) highlighted the continuity given to this activity organized by the CAC in conjunction with the institution he chairs, since the meeting had had a previous edition.
Finally, Yanina Martínez (Secretary of Tourism Promotion of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of the Nation) referred to the vital importance of increasing connectivity and federalization of destinations. In this sense, she highlighted that in May there were 10,576 domestic flights, which represents an increase of 32% year-on-year. “This is the result of all the work we have been developing and is very beneficial for the country,” she said.
Panels to think about connectivity and competitiveness
The first panel “Air connectivity and its importance in tourism development” was moderated by Fernando Dozo (member of the CAC Tourism Commission) and featured presentations by María José Taveira (country manager for Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), who presented statistics on the recovery of the industry, and Gonzalo Pérez Corral (General Manager of JetSMART), who shared his company’s perspective regarding the current situation of the sector and its future.
The second panel called “Competitiveness in the hospitality industry” was then carried out , which was dedicated to addressing some of the problems that the country is going through, and therefore the sector, such as the lack of foreign currency, the type exchange, the tax burden and regulations, among others. The speakers were Daniel Manzella (president of Destino Argentina), Marcos Cohen Arazi (IERAL economic advisor), Martín Pontevedra (Estudio Granda tax advisor) and Roberto Amengual (AHT secretary), accompanied by Montaldo as moderator.
Then, the third panel of the day entitled “Competitiveness in the travel agent segment” took place , where Guillermo Monti (general manager of Amichi), Sebastián Lezcano (commercial vice president of HotelDo and Despegar) and Sebastián Pezzati (CEO of Pezzati Viajes) spoke about the companies they run. The moderation was in charge of Fabián Lattanzio (director of the Argentine Federation of Associations of Travel and Tourism Companies -FAEVYT-, in charge of the commission of retail agencies and of the commission of land tourist transport of said institution).
By way of closing, the moderators raised some of the conclusions drawn from the meeting: firstly, that Argentina needs to recover reliability and stability; secondly, the need for the State to accompany the sector with policies to promote tourism; and, finally, the importance of updating labor regulations.