Argentina exports its PreViaje program to Ecuador, Peru and Paraguay

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In 2020, amid uncertainty and with a sector in need of rapid progress, the Argentine Ministry of Tourism and Sports launched the PreViaje program, which offered Argentines who booked domestic travel in advance for 2021 a 50% refund on the cost of the trip through a card charged with the balance, which could be used for that or other trips, in a wide variety of categories.

The model was a success, and was therefore replicated this year ahead of 2022, with far better results.

PreViaje’s positive results attracted the attention of several of its South American neighbors facing a similar challenge: to try to quickly recover domestic tourism as borders reopen and pre-pandemic connectivity is reestablished.

The online meeting was headed by Argentine Ministry of Tourism and Sports’ Undersecretary of Tourism Promotion and New Products Andrés Krymer, in charge of PreViaje; Ecuador’s Ministry of Tourism’s Undersecretary of Promotion Nathalia Ulloa; and executives from OTA Despegar, both from its Argentine and Ecuadorian subsidiaries.

During the presentation, Krymer said that “the impact has been very positive, it has helped to sustain the sector and companies, with an efficient use of public funds and has allowed to reach large and small entrepreneurs.”

“We are interested in inviting citizens to discover our country and promote domestic tourism, which boosts the economy and favors rural sectors,” Ulloa said.

However, this meeting was not the first step towards exporting the PreViaje program to the rest of the region. Training sessions had been held with Peruvian and Paraguayan authorities, also seeking strategies to accelerate the recovery of domestic tourism. In all three cases, cooperation agreements were signed for their potential implementation.