August 2023 was a month full of news for the tourism industry, where Chile keeps consolidating itself internationally after winning two awards at the World Travel Awards (WTA) 2023 South America, known as the Oscar Tourism Awards.
Nevertheless, the effects of global warming are causing concern within the industry after historical maximum temperatures were recorded in the winter.
There was also news for the airlines, hotels, and cruise ships, while an article about the phenomenon known as “birth tourism” opened the discussion about global borders.
Chile: South America’s Leading Tourism Destination and South America’s Most Romantic Destination
At the 30th edition of the WTA 2023 South America, Chile was consolidated as the Best Adventure Tourism Destination. It is the ninth consecutive time that Chile has won the award. Furthermore, the Atacama Desert was chosen as the Most Romantic Destination in the region. This is the sixth time that Chile has won the award.
Moreover, Latam Airlines won “South America’s Leading Airline 2023,” for the eighth consecutive year, being highlighted for its constant renovation of cabins, the incorporation of new technologies, and the digitalization of the customer’s experience, among other reasons.
Remember that Chile was chosen as the World’s Leading Green Destination in 2019, 2020, and 2022; and the World’s Leading Adventure Tourism Destination in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021.
Global warming keeps the sector on alert
TyNMagazine presented the relationship between global warming and tourism, pointing out that climatic variation could affect the attractiveness and competitiveness of destinations. At the same time, it was mentioned that the air transport entails 5% of anthropogenic emissions.
The same phenomenon was described by La Tercera in its article “The impact that heatwaves can have on tourism.”
In this context, the managers of the ski centers in the Metropolitan Region are concerned about this winter 2023, the hottest for 73 years. Maximum temperatures of 25°C were registered in the capital last Thursday.
Meanwhile, Agencia de Viajes Chile reported that a study by Bain & Company defined as “very unlikely” that airlines can reduce their carbon footprint and achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
Birth tourism: a phenomenon that arrives in Chile
The Chilean Passport is positioned 46th on the list of the most powerful passports in the world because it allows you to travel to more than 160 countries without a visa, among them the United States, thanks to the Visa Waiver program.
For the same reason, there are more and more people interested in having their children born in Chile with the objective of obtaining a second nationality. According to La Tercera, Russian couples pay an average of CLP $ 16,000,000 to achieve this goal, a practice called “birth tourism.”
As an example, the cited media mentioned the case of Lukianova Kozik (35) and Aleksandr Lukianov (37), a couple from Moscow who traveled to Chile for the birth of their child. They made it through the Chile Kids agency, which also offers translations and plans in clinics for childbirth.
News of hotels and cruise ships
Regarding the hotel industry, Accor and Hilton were among the 25 best places to work in Latin America. This was shared by a ranking of the consultant Great Place to Work based on the opinions of human resources.
CDT made a list of the five most architecturally beautiful hotels in the world. On the list ONE@Tokyo in Tokyo, Le Corbusier in Marsella, Four Seasons in New York, Marqués de Riscal in Bilbao, and Hotel Morfeo in Macao appear.
In terms of cruise ships, El Mercurio de Valparaíso highlighted in an editorial the support of the Southern Cone Ports Corporation for the elimination of the 400 passenger threshold in the coastal trade market, an idea included in the project that seeks to modify the Law for the Promotion of Merchant Navy.
Meanwhile, the Chilean company GeoVictoria estimates that the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) will allow for optimization of loading and uploading in the port of Valparaíso, according to Diario La Quinta.
On the other hand, Easter Island has become the fourth best-selling national destination, according to G5Noticias. As an example, there has been an increase of 179% in the sale of tickets to Easter Island in the last three months of 2023.
Airlines continue to expand
Latin America and the Caribbean led the world’s recovery of air traffic after registering an increase of 1.8% during June, according to Aero-Naves.
Regarding the airlines, SkyTeam inaugurated a VIP room for passengers in Terminal 2 at Santiago Airport, the first group in Latin America. On its part, Latam Airlines will resume in October the connection between Santiago and Cusco.
JetSMART announced a new direct route from Santiago to Florianópolis. According to Revista Velvet, there will be three weekly flights (Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday) that will work starting on December 27th. On the other hand, Aeroméxico will resume its regular flights to Santiago starting on October 29th.
The most remarkable decision was taken by Turkish Coredon Airlines, which will try to implement an area free of children on long-haul flights. According to Radio Bío-Bío, they will test this idea with the flights between Amsterdam and the Caribbean island of Curaçao.
Finally, Agencia de Viajes Chile highlighted that flight fares will maintain their average price until 2024, connecting the suspension of possible rises to the government’s decision to postpone the application of corrective or “green” taxes.
