Uruguay extends VAT rebates for tourists to April 2024 to encourage shopping in the country

13-09-23

At the working lunch of the Association of Marketing Managers, the Minister of Tourism, Tabaré Viera, highlighted the enactment of this decree by the Executive Branch, which extends the benefit of the value added tax (VAT) rebate until April 30, 2024, for resident and non-resident tourists. 

The Minister of Tourism, Tabaré Viera, spoke at the ADM working lunch together with the mayors of Colonia, Carlos Moreira, Maldonado, Enrique Antía, and Rocha, Alejo Umpiérrez.

In terms of statistics on inbound tourism at the national level in the first half of 2023, the hierarch indicated that 1,976,960 visitors entered the country, a figure that exceeds that of 2019 and U$S 1,019 million in foreign currency.

Argentinians, who Viera defined as the "most loyal tourists", arrived in a number of 991,394, almost the same figure as 2019, while 261,580 came from Brazil, a market that the Ministry of Tourism has worked to increase their arrival in the country.

On outbound tourism, "very important for the operation of travel agencies, transport and other links...", Viera pointed out that 2,338,313 people travelled and their spending was U$S 883 million. "Many travelled not only to Argentina, but also to Europe, the United States, among others," he said.

In reference to domestic tourism, Viera remarked that it grew during the pandemic and has not stopped growing after the reopening of travel. The data provided by ANTEL show that Canelones is the department that ranks first, with more than two million visitors, followed by Montevideo, Maldonado, Rocha and Colonia.

On the other hand, Viera highlighted the cruise tourism: 187 ships with cruise passengers arrived in Montevideo and Punta del Este. 320,460 passengers disembarked and left U$S 16,340,705 in income. "Cruise tourism will continue to grow. The government has defined works in Punta del Este and Montevideo, in addition to receiving small ships in Colonia".

In this sense, the hierarch pointed out that the extension of the next season, which will begin on 24 October and end on 24 April, is assured, and that arrivals will increase by 10%.

In terms of air connectivity, the minister said that 13 destinations were recovered from those that existed in 2019, operated by 10 airlines. He expressed that there is interest from airlines to explore new connections and said that the return of the Chilean airline SKY is an achievement in this regard.

Viera pointed out that the development of event tourism is an objective of the state portfolio, and that the 475 meetings held in 2022 placed the country in sixth place in the ICCA World Ranking in Latin America. In addition, he asserted that private investment is essential for growth and mentioned the calls published for the construction of luxury hotels in Rocha and Paysandú.

Finally, he recalled that the tourism sector came to represent 8% of the country's added value, and that in 2022 it will represent 7.3%. If it could reach the level of Spain, where tourism represented 12%, 110,000 jobs would be generated, double the current number.