At the same time that the statistics office of the tourism entity revealed
more than auspicious figures
, when the beach looked like the best days of the high season, the income continued on Highway 2. Not as many as on Thursday, when there were times with arrivals of a thousand cars per hour, but at a sustained pace. The operators speak of
a record for the date
: 15% more visitors than last year on this unprecedented weekend.
A weekend that will somehow expose a climatic characteristic of this city on the shores of the Atlantic,
all the facets of its cyclothymic
climate. After a Friday with a temperature of almost 30 degrees, with full sun and clear skies, and crowded beaches, there was a warm night with a bright moon over the sea and an unstable early morning, with some rain. It dawned gray this Saturday, the temperature will barely exceed 20° and then,
for the rest, cold
.
It will be cool from Sunday to Tuesday, with minimum temperatures of 11° and maximum temperatures of 18°,
classic Mar del Plata autumn
. "If the weather slows down a bit, people will come this way," a vendor on Juan B. Justo Avenue, the famous avenue for sweaters, predicted on Friday with the establishment without an audience, which resists in times of recession and economic crisis. They will be days to explore the shopping centers and, an Easter tradition, the port.
"We are
exceeding the expectations
we had when we projected this weekend, we did not imagine these numbers," the president of the Municipal Tourism and Culture Entity, Bernardo Martín, told this newspaper, surprised by the number of people who invaded the city.
There are more than 170 thousand people.
"Mar del Plata continues to be one of the most chosen tourist destinations, due to the unique offer it exhibits and because it adapts to any type of situation,
even a crisis of the magnitude we are having
," said the official.
Reservations started at 70% and the forecasts of the most optimistic operators indicated that by the weekend they could reach 80%. But the number was exceeded, this Saturday there were those who
spoke of having reached 85%
. The official numbers of the tourist entity will be known in the next few hours.
Tourists in Mar del Plata, this Saturday. Photo Leandro Giannone
In any case, the final number
will not represent what will happen on Monday and Tuesday
, when occupancy drops significantly. "It's because of the economic crisis. People came, that's the important thing, and they stay as long as they can.
Not everyone can stay for 6 days
," said a gastronomic businessman with a location in the center. It helped, he said, that the rate values are the same as those applied in season.
Such an influx is evident on the streets: it is very difficult to find a parking space, along the coast and in the shopping and gastronomic centers, such as Alem, Güemes and the center. Another difficulty typical of the tourist influx was finding a table in one of the restaurants in the port.
The success of the weekend was also reflected in other towns on the coast and southeast of Buenos Aires. In Pinamar they maintain that the influx produced
scenes worthy of the best moments of the summer
.
"It is a very good Holy Week, with hotel occupancy - which here reaches 25 thousand beds and is barely 10% of the total beds that the district has - at 80. This is average between Cariló and Pinamar," he told this newspaper the Secretary of Tourism, Lucas Ventoso.
"We don't have the definitive numbers, what I can say is that
you see a Pinamar like in January
, because of the movement in the streets, in the gastronomy and the coast," he assured.
Mar del Plata. Correspondent
ACE