Chile to launch tourism campaign in UK

Chile is gearing up for a major effort to increase tourism from the UK. It has appointed Pablo Moll as the new Director of its national tourism organisation (Corporacion Turistica de Chile), and the UK will be one of its primary target markets.

During the coming years, Chile is planning a wide range of activities in the UK to position the country as a tourist destination. These will include public relations campaigns, seminars and educational visits for travel agents, partner tour operators and the press.

Pablo Moll affirms: “We are launching this first-ever media and awareness campaign in the UK as we believe British travellers are tailor-made to enjoy Chile. Our campaign will be aimed at persuading the more affluent UK travellers that Chile is the best long-haul destination all the year round”.

Rapid Growth:
UK long haul tourism to Chile is growing significantly. UK tourists arriving in Chile increased by 7.3 per cent in 2006, with 56,682 UK arrivals.

As a southern hemisphere country, Chile’s summer coincides with the UK’s winter, and January is the country’s warmest month. The number of UK tourists visiting Chile in January increased by 19% in 2007.

But small UK share:
In 2006 the overall number of tourists to Chile increased by 12.7%. Official figures from Corporacion Turistica de Chile state that 2,284,232 tourists visited the country in 2006, compared with 2,027,082 in 2005. So, although the rate of growth of tourism from the UK is good, in percentage terms it has a long way to go, with under 3% of the total.

Importance to Chile:
Tourism represents the sixth largest source of income for the Chilean economy, according the Central Bank of Chile. Significantly, in terms of value for the Chilean economy, more than two thirds of of the British travellers stayed in 4 or 5 star hotels. In terms of security, Chile is one of the safest countries in the Americas and its capital Santiago, the cleanest in the region.

Pablo Moll said: “We intend to build on these strong figures by actively promoting our beautiful country with the tourism trade in the UK. We want to support the UK tour operators who have been promoting Chile for many years more proactively, and also welcome new ones to show them the virtues of Chile”.

There is indeed much to see in Chile. Scenically, to highlight only a few of the country’s attractions, there is the Atacama Desert, the glaciers, and Chilean Patagonia. For the palate, there are the wineries to be visited, and a wide range of gastronomy and fruit to be enjoyed, along with the night life of Santiago and Chile’s Ski resorts for the year round skier.

And of course there is Easter Island - famous for its stone moai statues - more than 2,000 miles west of mainland Chile, one of the remotest islands in the world. Easter Island is a contender to become one of the new 7 wonders of the world. New7wonders.com/index.php?id=381

Pablo Moll says: “We are going to organize a series of press trips in 2007 to Chile, including to Easter Island as very few people know that it is part of Chile.”

For more details on Chile, see: Visit-chile.org