ozstamps

Alex my old amigo, Australia publishes foreign visitor numbers each month. As does Argy I feel sure?

They are several months old when published.

They also indicate if Jan 2010 is up or down on Jan 2009 etc.

In ozzie's case currency is the HUGE factor as $A is up ~30% against $US in the past year or so. . . you were a banker so you know that tune well.

Argy has no such 30% push-pull currency huge variable.

I'll bet my house in July 2010 (USA holiday peak month) that total visitor numbers to Argy are WAY down over July 2009.

Will that be the kind of "hard evidence" you seek?

And it will be entirely due to this idiotic fee.

If numbers drop 10% as I feel sure they will - will the money raised at $135 a time be worth more to the Govt then the few $1,000 each the average American/Canadian tourist spends on a vacation?

Do you realise there is about $US40 in TAXES a night on the average rate Sheraton BA booking?

Lose just a 3 nights hotel stay and the govt is behind the 8 ball. Assuming they make nothing on the base rate in company tax .. which they do.

We will all soon see. @:-)

HIDDY

Going by statistics and blaming it on the fee is very dodgy ground. USA visitor figures to the UK could well be down as well so that's your theory blown apart.

Wouldn't surprise me if the figures show that USA visitors for 2010 are actually up on the previous year given the economic upturn over 2009....if so can I have your house please?

erik123

My guess is the fee plays a minor part in overall visitor numbers but still has some impact.

The goal for both tourism and foreign investment promotion would be to lower/eliminate the barriers as much as possible - not add to them. Don't really see any upside from an Argentine perspective.

GUWonder

I agree with your first sentence above, but your second paragraph sounds almost too good to be true.

I'll be interested in the numbers as well -- although with the Argentine government being what it is when it comes to numbers, I'd probably also choose a proxy measure not under the count of the Argentine government. I will be surprised if there's a substantial increase in US visitors to Argentina, but I'd love to be surprised of course.

HIDDY

Simply guessing but I'm basing it on the fact that air fares seem to be quite high this year on the USA-EZE routes and redemption availability is certainly not as easy to get this year as it was last.

Mr. Bean

lol ^

The thing is, all of the deep SA countries now have this reciprocity. Argentina is even being "generous" in that the reciprocity is only collected at EZE airport. This still puts Argentina as a whole in a competitive position vs. say Chile and Brazil.

ozstamps is assuming people will trade in their Argentine vacation, but for what? The comparable alternatives (geographically) are worse, looking solely from the point of view of a $100+/pp reciprocity tax. People who are set on going to Argentina will not suddenly change to going to Europe, IMO. Sure there are some people at the margin and Argentina will miss out on their $$$ but that's the trade AG govt. is making.

At worst, I think it's a break-even policy revenue wise for Argentina, but it comes with the added "benefit" of sending a message to the US, Canada, and Australia RE: visa fees. I say "benefit" because the cost is borne mostly by tourists and I honestly doubt that, e.g., US Dept of State, cares.

Eastbay1K

Chile only collects @ SCL.

Cada 90 Dias

I'm quite sure it is affecting the budget traveler/backpacker/extended time traveler type decisions. For many years, that tourist segment entered the Southern Cone at EZE to avoid the Chile reciprocity fee.

erik123

I think it is problematic if you visit several countries. Consider a trip that takes in Brazil, Chile and Argentina for a family of five (close to $2000 in additional fees) - people might stick to one or two countries only. Or pick neighbors that are cheaper.

GUWonder

Let's not forget the Switzerland of South America -- namely, Uruguay -- squeezed right in between Argentina and Brazil.

With some credit to Argentina's visa reciprocity fee on arrival, perhaps the US flights to MVD will become as popular this (Northern Hemisphere) summer as AA thinks they will be. Some passengers will be creative enough to save some money this way.

erik123

The only issue is that MVD now charges very high departure fees for intercontinental flights (to pay for the new airport is suppose) - negating any savings. Flying into MVD and out of EZE is a good alternative though.

Mr. Bean

True, I did forget about MVD as a gateway. With the $131/pp in savings it could make sense. However, I think those tourists will ultimately make the trek the Buenos Aires anyway, so Argentina will not be much worse off for it (they lost out on the airport taxes, but that's about it; they'll make money on the transport between MVD and BUE, too).

Doc Savage

If you think about it, this fee is about the same as the outrageous car rental fees at airports in the US. The governments know they have a captive audience which has no choice but to pay the fee, and the locals don't care because they don't directly pay it.

HIDDY

Indeed....all this talk of avoiding paying the fee by not entering Argentina at Ezeiza is all well and good as long as you were actually planning to include the detours in the first place.
The time wasted compared to the money saved really is not worth it in the end.

Gaucho100K

Interesting perspective and point... I was unaware that rental prices at Airport locations had now built-in much higher spreads than at other locations..... thanks for the heads up (Its been a while since I rented a vehicle in the USA)... ^