Mendoza lives a "World May", according to the qualification of the tourism authorities of the wine capital. The coincidence of the start of the pre-trip, an extra long weekend, being one of the venues of the Under-20 World Cup and the arrival of snow, have taken over national and foreign tourism hotel beds.
With an average occupancy close to 92% in the metropolitan area and 85% throughout the province, of 45 thousand registered accommodations, the streets of the center, the General San Martín park and the mountain villages, are full of tourists.
A special spice is the number of foreigners who have arrived. Wine tourism attracts Brazilians, Uruguayans and Paraguayans who visit wineries and restaurants of the enogastronomy. But, these last two weeks of May, the followers of the 12 teams installed and 14 matches of the U20 World Cup that are played in Mendoza were added. Another 10 matches are played in neighboring San Juan.
The abundant snow in the mountain range and the provincial south, in the city of Malargüe, is another attraction of this long weekend. The flip side is that about 1,500 Chilean vehicles and a thousand trucks are stranded in the towns near the mountain range waiting for the opening of the Cristo Redentor tunnel, which has already been closed for five days.
The Cristo Redentor international pass that connects Argentina with Chile on Route 7 remains closed to traffic for all types of vehicles since last Sunday when a snow storm broke out in the high mountains. Thelma
According to data provided by the Ministry of Tourism of Mendoza, tourists who will tour the province will stay, on average, 4.5 days with a daily expenditure that will be around $ 16,000. " Mendoza closes with this XXL weekend a historic May, with great tourist, cultural and sports movement, "said the Minister of Culture and Tourism provincial, Nora Vicario.
The plan of the government of Mendoza is to have a province open all year round with connectivity; sustained advocacy; cultural agenda; hotel and gastronomic excellence; important tourist offer of the province in Previaje, which implies an articulated work between the public and private sectors.
"Part of the attractions these days are the FIFA U-20 World Cup, which is running until May 30; the Provincial Theater Festival and cultural and tourist activities related to national celebrations, such as the free show of the Sacred Cry of Lito Vitale in the Plaza Independencia, "described the minister.
Mendoza is one of the provinces most chosen by tourists in May. The Paseo del Parque General San Martín was a very visited optionOrlando Pelichotti / Los Andes
The patriotic show of May 25 started at noon and continues until nightfall, in the main square of the city of Mendoza. The Sacred Cry will feature the presence of Lito Vitale and the interpretation of the patriotic songs in the voices of Juan Carlos Baglietto, Patricia Sosa, Hilda Lizarazu, Sandra Mihanovich, Coti Sorokin, Patricia Cangemi, Los Chimeno, and Rodrigo Tapari.
"Mendoza is among the most outstanding destinations in Argentina, as mentioned by several platforms, added to all the movement we have," said Vicario.
Uncertainty in the Passage to Chile
This Thursday 25 will remain closed the mountain crossing Cristo Redentor Los Libertadores. Chilean tourists and transporters have been waiting since last Sunday for the opening of the main passage of the bioceanic corridor, between Mendoza and Santiago de Chile.
The coordinator of the Cristo Redentor pass, Daniel Galdeano, said that the preventive cut of this holiday is due to the existence of adverse weather conditions over the mountain area that affect the safe conditions of transitability.
"We ask the community to understand that it is a meteorological event that generates insecurity in traffic, we hope to have a window of good weather to enable traffic for a few hours on Friday 26," said the coordinator of the passage.
"We estimate that there are 600 people who are in Uspallata (95 kilometers from the international crossing), but there are about 1,500 cars throughout Mendoza that want to cross. With the trucks it was organized in a different way, with different lungs, so that the queue does not become cumbersome, "said Galdeano.
"We do everything in our reach, but we have to raise awareness that the crossing is complicated, so we have to be well prepared in case this type of thing usually happens, which is difficult to solve," said the coordinator of the high mountain road.
The rest of the country
In addition to the classic tourist destinations, this weekend appeared on the radar five emerging places that bite in tip among the preferences of the people at the time of resting a few days. According to the Ministry of Tourism of the Nation, Calingasta (San Juan) Fiambalá (Catamarca) Villa Unión (La Rioja) Melincué (Santa Fe) Colonia Carlos Pellegrini (Corrientes) and Tafi Viejo (Tucumán) are in the top five of the curious areas that begin to accommodate in the vacation agenda of families.
"Calingasta stands out for religious tourism, and it is also a beautiful place. Fiambalá has the hot springs and the entire adobe route. Villa Union is where people stay to go to Talampaya. Tafi Viejo is a place where you go a lot of trekking through the yungas. And Colonia is one of the most beautiful places in Argentina, where ecotourism developed a lot through the Esteros del Iberá, "they say from the Ministry. And they add that all these places are with record hotel occupancy.
In addition, according to the pre-trip, destinations such as Salta, Mendoza, Bariloche, Iguazú, Merlo, Tandil, Santiago and San Juan also show almost full occupancy.
According to estimates, only with the PreViaje $ 15,043 million will be injected into the regional economies during the extra-long weekend of May, with the mobilization of 224 thousand tourists benefited by the program.
Mendoza. Correspondent
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