By: Raúl Gastulo Palacios
The dengue fever epidemic has affected the recovery of tourist activity in Piura, resulting in reduced hotel bookings and reduced travel agency business in the region, according to unions.
According to the president of the Peruvian Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies of Piura (Apavit Piura), Isabel Ancajima, the turnover in these companies in the sector has fallen by more than 30 percentage points.
“While it is true that May and June are months of low tourist movement in the region, in normal years reserves are between 40% and 45% of the total, today we have reserves of 10%”specify Andean agency.
He pointed out that the tourism sector had been hit by the rains related to Typhoon Yaku and was expected to recover from the second quarter, but the dengue cases prevented greater dynamism.
“Most of the tourists who have postponed their Holy Week trips to these dates, due to rain, contact us and The first thing they asked was ‘How is dengue fever?’”, he commented.
“Out of responsibility and precaution we are informing tourists about the risks involved at this time. Many have decided to repost and others have changed their tickets to other destinations, which is very unfortunate for the region,” he added.
Going forward, he predicts that the sector expects a reduction in dengue cases for July and a slight recovery of reserves at Fiestas Patrias. In that sense, they expected the arrival of more than 15,000 tourists.
“We remain optimistic for the Fiesta Patrias and the next humpback whale watching season, which also takes place in July. Every year on those dates we receive about 30,000 tourists just for whale watching. We wait approaching between 70% and 50% of that level“, project.
Hotel
Meanwhile, President of the Piura Tourism Chamber (Caretur), Oscar Soriano, agreed with Apavit and revealed that hotel reservations in the region had also fallen due to the dengue outbreak.
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“Currently, hotel occupancy in Piura has reached 60%. However, this year we are at 30%, that is half, and this is due to the effects of the dengue fever epidemic”inform to Andean agency.
palliative measures
Meanwhile, Head of the Regional Directorate of Foreign Trade and Tourism of the Piura Regional Government (Dircetur Piura), Richard Neira, said that the local government had been carrying out palliative measures for weeks to reduce the impact of the epidemic. DHF in tourism activities.
“To overcome the crisis of DHF tourists we have to reduce the disease and for that we are intensifying the fogging campaign. We are currently mitigating critical areas in Chulucanas and Sullana, and in Piura we are carrying out fumigation in the districts of Piura, Castilla and 23 de Octubre”, reports to the Andes Agency.
He confirmed that, in parallel, they would come promoting tourism promotion campaigns and holding a foreign trade forum to revive the interest of businessmen and tourists to visit Piura.
In this case, he emphasized it On June 14 and 15, Expo Peru Norte 2023 will be held in Piurawhere visits of 40 international buyers and 90 exporting companies are expected.
International buyers from South Korea, China and Taiwan, as well as the United States, France, Netherlands, Russia, Canada and the United Kingdom, are expected to attend the business conference.
“We are coordinating with the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Mincetur) and the Peruvian Promotion Commission for Exports and Tourism (Promperu) to reactivate the region’s economy,” he said.
He emphasized that today Tourism infrastructure in this region is in optimal conditionTherefore, it is hoped that the impact of DHF can be reduced so that the flow of tourists can be boosted quickly.
“Piura has beaches, mountains and forest edges. We have a lot of tourism potential and to reach the optimal level we have coordinated with the city government and the local tourism committee,” he said.
Others in the Andes:
They imposed 124 sanctions on travel agents for deceptive commercial methods, from 2019 to date, he said. @IndecopiOficial https://t.co/lkL2KKLhcT pic.twitter.com/i8Zu5zw5ce
— Andean Agency (@Agencia_Andina) June 8, 2023
(END) RGP/JJN
Posted: 8/6/2023
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