Cruises season launched

"K2T Wisata"

There are all kinds of travelers. Some people like to rough it up, they are quick to pack their tent, their sleeping bag, a couple of clothes and jump into adventure tourism. For others, it is while backpacking that they feel more at ease as tourists. Then you have the intellectual tourists that travel as part of their studies or for academics – related reasons, the sport tourism, the cultural tourism, the excursions… there is a kind of tourism offer for each kind of travellers, and cruises are one of them.

What would be the profile of a cruise tourist: the kind of person that prefers to have it all planned but does not have the time or desire to plan the whole trip. It is also person that likes to be safe and comfortable while getting to know new places. Especially in South America, a region that many have not ventured to tour on yet, this kind of tourism is very popular, and more so during the summer season.

Uruguay has many harbors and an extensive coast strip, benefiting the industry of cruise tourism in Uruguay. From November to March, Uruguayans enjoy seeing cruises go back and forth in their coasts, tourists getting on and off the ships, when they enjoy the cities and beaches of Uruguay for a while, before heading to their next destination.

In Punta del Este, the summer 2010 – 2011 cruise season was launched a bit later, this past Saturday, December 11th, and it is expected to last until April.

The Uruguayan Minister of Tourism, Hector Lescano, led this presentation that started with the arrival of the “The World” vessel – greatest private cruise in the planet – in the Maldonado bay.

According to Lescano, local tourism in Uruguay requires Punta del Este, located 135 kilometers from Montevideo, to build a new and more appropriate big port for these kind of ships. The city really needs more infrastructure that makes the operation of cruises in Punta del Este run more smoothly, therefore welcoming them to its coasts. Something similar happens in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, which also needs to improve services to better receive the cruises, since it is on those cruises that many tourists take their trips to Uruguay.

The number of cruises grows every year, with the current cruise season expecting some 200 ships to arrive to Uruguay, both in Montevideo and in Punta del Este.

Last year Uruguay received some 100 million US dollars worth of revenues and had 2.1 million tourists on summer holidays, excluding all those from cruises and internal movement. All figures are expected to increase this year, including the arrival of cruises to Uruguay, which are expected to bring some 300.000 people in total for the whole summer season.

Studies estimate that from those tourists arriving on the cruises, 10 to 12% return to Uruguay on their own, in some cases in order to make new investments in Uruguay.

Cruise season in Uruguay has already started, so if you haven’t booked your flight to Uruguay and your hotel in Uruguay but would still like to take vacations in Uruguay, taking a cruise to Uruguay might be a good choice. Start looking for cruises to Montevideo and cruises to Punta del Este and book your trip in advance to avoid disappointed. It will be a great experience!