What Tourism Can Learn From Chile’s Setback Amid Record Vaccination Rates
Photo Credit: Chilean destinations like The Horns, Torres del Paine (pictured) will not be seeing tourists for awhile given new Covid outbreaks in the country. Flickr / Deensel
Skift Take
Vaccine success is already boosting the economy and consumer confidence in Chile. But another Covid surge shows that a cautious approach in tourism recovery efforts is imperative alongside the vaccination race.
In stark contrast to October 2019, when Chile’s major social uprising sent its tourism sector tumbling, the South American nation's visitor economy could rank among the first to recover from the global pandemic.
As of a week ago, Chile surpassed the five million mark in vaccinated citizens out of a population of 15 million, with over a million having received two doses. This vaccination rate has catapulted it to the top of the global vaccination race, with jabs even reaching Antarctica.
It’s great news for Chile’s overall economy, which analysts said is already showing signs of growth in 2021 and that its gross domestic product forecasts were "the fastest expansion since at least 1986." But with another Covid wave now throwing the country back into lockdown, tourism leaders appear to be taking varied approaches towards the recovery of tourism.
Chile’s tourism ministry, Servicio Nacional de Turismo (Sernatur), has a more conservative stance — it has no plans to rush t
