Tourism | IndusLatin

Happy 200th Anniversary of the Revolution, Argentina!

May 25th, 2010 Posted in Argentina, Tourism

Hope you have a chance to visit this beautiful country this year and explore business opportunities. Wishing that Argentina’s reaches its economic potential in the next decades!

A trip down memory lane.

Romantic Argentina 1932

Argentina – The Bicentennial Year starts

The Bicentennial Year starts

On May 25th 2010 Argentina will celebrate the 200 years of the revolution that opened the way to Independence. The so-called Revolution of May was a historical process, commencing on 25 May 1810 that resulted in the breaking of colonial ties with Spain and enabled the road to independence, on July 9, 1816.

The 200 years of the Revolution opened the way for Argentina´s independence and it will be celebrated throughout the year through various activities and ceremonies that will end at the great feast of the May 25, 2010.

Technorati Tags: argentina, culture, tourism

Revitalising South America’s smallest flag carrier

December 16th, 2008 Posted in Tourism, Uruguay

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FlightGlobal

[Matias] Campiani, CEO says the financial turnaround is proof Pluna’s new strategy of turning Montevideo into a hub for the Southern Cone of South America is working. Over the last year the carrier has added frequencies to key business centres such as Buenos Aires, Santiago and Sao Paulo while launching new thin routes such as Asuncion in Paraguay, Rosario in Argentina and Curitiba in Brazil.

Pluna previously was primarily an origin and destination carrier with less than 10% of its traffic connecting. Campiani says Pluna has already succeeded at increasing its transfer business to 40%.

The new network strategy was made possible by switching to smaller aircraft. Pluna last year placed an order for seven Bombardier CRJ900 NextGen regional jets plus eight options. The carrier over the last six months has already taken delivery of six CRJ900s with the seventh due to be delivered next month. “In a crisis situation I think we have the right size aircraft,” Campiani says.
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No corking Uruguay’s rising status as wine country

December 3rd, 2008 Posted in Tourism, Uruguay

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LATimes.com

Wind-tousled grapevines, marching in cornrow-straight lines and hung with pearl-like clusters of light-green fruit, stretch as far as the eye can see across gently rolling farmland near the village of Juanicó in the Canelones District. Flowering red rosebushes punctuate the ends of each row, and tiro-tiro birds, named for their unique call, nest on wooden fence posts. Stalwart pine trees shield the vines from unkind winds along the 34th southern parallel.

The Canelones District is home to the Juanicó wine region, just a 45-minute drive from the Río de la Plata, the broad, slow-moving river that flows between Argentina and its northern neighbor Uruguay.

Surprisingly, the Juanicó region is not part of Argentina, a well-known wine producer and exporter. It belongs to tiny Uruguay and serves as a gateway to the Wine Roads, a stretch of 15 bodegas where wine aficionados can stroll through vineyards, tour century-old cellars and sample fine wines and local cuisine.

Technorati Tags: wine, uruguay

U.S. Architects Head to LatAm to Weather the Economic Storm

December 3rd, 2008 Posted in Infrastructure, Latin America, Tourism

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Architectural Record

In recent years, as many major U.S. architecture firms expanded internationally, they often bypassed Latin America in favor of Europe, China, and the Middle East. Gradually, though, that may be starting to change, as architects open offices and enlist for projects in Central and South American countries, where population and economic growth have been strong in recent years.

Even as financial troubles mount around the world, and increasingly put some Latin nations at risk, there’s a sense that much of the region, which has been buffeted by severe recessions before, can weather the current crisis. At least that’s what some architects believe.

While the global credit freeze could theoretically curtail shopping
habits, the overall effects “won’t be as severe here,” Forneris
predicts. “Money has been hard to come by for years, so I don’t know
how much more credit can shrink for them.”

Another driver of Latin America’s building boom is tourism. Despite a
global drop in travel due to the economic downturn, Bryan Algeo, AIA,
principal of WATG, an Irvine, California-based firm, says the Latin
American tourism industry shouldn’t be as badly affected as other parts
of the world because the region’s still relatively affordable compared
with other destinations. Read the rest of this entry »

Wonderful finds in Ecuador

November 3rd, 2008 Posted in andean, Tourism

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Philadelphia Inquirer | 11/02/2008

For such a small country (about the size of Colorado), Ecuador is remarkably diverse. Tucked between Colombia and Peru on South America’s west coast, it’s probably best known as the gateway to the Galapagos Islands. But it has three other ecosystems: the Amazon, the Pacific coast and the Andes, or Sierra, each with its own climate, terrain and culture.

It was the Andes that captured our attention. Running half the length of the country, the mountains are home to a dramatic avenue of volcanoes (including Cotopaxi, the highest active volcano in the world), deep valleys, lakes and farmland, not to mention the grand old haciendas we hoped to stay in.

The haciendas, also called hosterias, were established during the country’s Spanish colonization, when they were awarded as land grants by the king. As the estates flourished, their wealthy owners incorporated ornate tile work, terra cotta roofs, archways, verandas, murals, and central courtyards into their designs.

After the land reforms of the 1960s, many of the haciendas were broken up, refurbished and turned into inns, some with spas and activities such as horseback riding, mountain biking and hiking.

Technorati Tags: ecuador, tourism

Peru Rocks – The Big Picture

November 1st, 2008 Posted in Peru, Tourism

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Amazing pictures of the Inca Trail, especially the picture below taken from Inti Punku – the sun gate entrance to Machu Picchu. It is amazing to be there at sunrise.
Boston.com

Indian hotel industry going places, eyes 10m foreign visitors by 2010

October 7th, 2008 Posted in India, Tourism

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Financial Express

The long-term outlook for the [Indian] hotel industry remains upbeat as the country’s tourism industry experiences unprecedented growth, according to the latest Indian hotel market outlook report, ‘India Digest 2008’, by Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, one of the leading hotel investment and advisory service providers.

While domestic tourism is expanding in India owing to an increasingly affluent and growing population, greater consumption and the introduction of low cost airline carriers, the government is looking to grow foreign visitation to 10 million international visitor arrivals by 2010, the year of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. Over the last five years, India has seen a double-digit growth in foreign visitors to a 10-year high of five million arrivals in 2007. Foreign exchange earnings for the same year soared in tandem to $12 billion (Rs 48,000 crore), a year-on-year increase of 34%.

The strong performance of the corporate sector and the growth in the economy has led to an unprecedented surge in business travel. “While the Indian economy has been affected by the current challenges faced by the global economy, the impact is expected to be short term,” said Sudeep Jain, executive vice-president (India), Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels. Aggressive growth in revenue per available room (RevPAR) has been recorded in the three key cities of Delhi/NCR, Mumbai and Bangalore over the past five financial years.

“In India, if you look at from medium to long-term, the fundamentals are very promising. In a global context, given the size of the economy, the population and the future potential of India as a tourist destination, the demand fundamentals are very good. We expect that continued economic growth, increased interest in the Indian markets and improved international access, combined with the modernisation of major airports, will boost inbound travel in India,” Jain added.
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MoT to organise ‘India Brazil South Africa’ workshop in Kerala

September 18th, 2008 Posted in Brazil, India, Tourism

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Travel Biz Monitor ::

In order to augment tourists arrivals to India and source new markets for tourism, Ministry of Tourism (MoT) India along with other ministries like trade and commerce, will conduct a workshop along with a delegation from Brazil and South Africa. The ‘India Brazil South Africa’ (IBSA) workshop will be conducted on 21st of this month in Kochi, Kerala. The delegation, attending the workshop, will comprise a total of 34 tour operators from Brazil and South Africa. They will get a first hand experience of Kerala by attending the Kerala Travel Mart 2008 (September 20-23) and the post convention tours.

The workshop has been organised with an objective to increase tourism activity between the three countries. A joint working committee comprising members from India, Brazil and South Africa will be set up to discuss the strategies to promote different industries including Tourism and addressing issues like air connectivity.

India planning to streamline visa process for foreign tourists

September 17th, 2008 Posted in India, Tourism

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Visa Bureau

To maintain this strong growth, the Indian government is looking to create visas on entry for nationals from 18 countries. At the moment, international visitors to India must have an Indian visa to enter the country. Indian tourist visas are usually valid for up to six months, and under the conditions of the visa, the visa holder is not allowed to work. For short-stay visits, tourists can also apply for a 15-day transit visa.

Under the new proposals, last-minute tourists would not have to be offshore to apply for their Indian tourist visa so that time-consuming procedures can be avoided. Countries included in the proposal include Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Spain.

In South America, Gauchos Still Ride Tall in the Saddle — and So Can You

September 15th, 2008 Posted in Argentina, Arts, Culture and Society, Tourism, Uruguay

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WashingtonPost

Even Charles Darwin was smitten by gauchos.

Notes from his 1833 expedition to South America excitedly describe a rare breed of cowboys discovered riding the open plains, “long, black hair curling down their backs . . . daggers at their waists” and weather-beaten guitars in tow.

For centuries, the itinerant gauchos roamed the South American countryside, toiling on ranches, serenading small-town women and inspiring folk legends about their footloose way of life.

Now, growing numbers of working farms, known in Argentina and Uruguay as estancias, are offering modern-day explorers the chance to experience the gaucho lifestyle for themselves, with a few contemporary comforts thrown in.
“The original gauchos were just wanderers,” Castro explains in Spanish,
lifting a gate to let the cattle back out to pasture. “They didn’t have
a home.” The herd streams past and recedes into the plains. Beyond, a
sea of scruffy grass rolls to the horizon.

It was on lonely plains such as these that, in the early 1700s, the
gaucho was born, the progeny of Spanish colonists and local Indians.
The mixed-race gauchos played Spanish guitars but wore ponchos; they
smoked tobacco but also sipped mate, an indigenous tea brewed from a
pampas shrub.

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