Tourism statistics show Argentines flocking to Brazil, belying states narrative

Argentines are abandoning traditional local holiday resorts in favor of the beaches of Brazil, recent data indicates. However, President Javier Milei’s government has changed how visitor levels are measured and claimed the domestic coastline is booming, drawing criticism from tourism workers who say the sector is on the ropes. Recent figures from the Brazilian tourist authorities showed that 72% more Argentines (3.4 million) visited Brazil in 2025 than the previous year. In both years, Argentines were the largest group of tourists in Brazil. Critics of the Milei administration say the artificially strong peso makes holidays abroad cheaper than local destinations, hurting Argentine businesses. Meanwhile, officials have celebrated what they say is a strong season along the coast of Buenos Aires province. “It’s the best summer season in at least 25 years,” press secretary Javier Lanari posted on X earlier this month. “The main tourist destinations [in Argentina] are bursting with people.” Tourism Secretary Daniel Scioli added that hotels in Mar del Plata, Argentina’s main coastal city, were completely booked up on January 1, and tweeted a photo of a beach in the city bursting with people. However, the photograph was later revealed to be more than a decade old. You may also be interested in: Tourism moves from Argentina to Brazil as exchange rates shift “The season in Mar del Plata has been poor overall,” said local councillor Juan Manuel Cheppi, of the Peronist party, Frente Renovador. “When the government spoke of ‘full occupancy’ in early January, it was referring to very specific dates during the first week.”  While hotels were packed that week, he added that the situation is very different for the season as a whole. According to Mar del Plata’s tourist board, in the second weekend of January, hotel occupancy is between 60 and 65% — a far cry from the 100% Scioli celebrated over New Year. The average stay fell to 3.5 nights (the lowest since records began), and tourism spending fell by around 30% compared to 2025. “Those numbers clearly show that Mar del Plata is experiencing its worst hotel activity in 21 years,” said Cheppi. Tourist numbers in dispute In November, Argentina received 3% fewer visitors while 15% more Argentines went abroad compared with the previous year, according to the latest figures from the INDEC statistical bureau. The most popular destination was Brazil, which received 167,000 Argentines. “The main explanation is economic — the model being implemented by Milei’s government has led to a sharp decline in purchasing power, made domestic tourism more expensive, and generated relative prices that now clearly favor foreign tourism,” Cheppi, who is also a sociologist, told the Herald.  “Record numbers of Argentines traveling to Brazil confirm that the problem is not a lack of tourist demand, but rather the loss of competitiveness in the domestic market.” The way outbound and inbound tourism statistics are measured is being closely observed by the national government. The Tourism Secretariat has cut financing to the INDEC from January onwards, meaning it will no longer be able to measure tourism statistics as often, or in as much depth, as it used to. “The Institute will make every effort to keep as many sector indicators as possible available to users,” it said in a statement. Moreover, local media reported that Scioli aims to release an index of his own, bypassing the INDEC. According to Cheppi, the tension “reveals that even within the government, they know that the official numbers do not support the optimistic narrative.” Moreover, Scioli thanked the Central Bank for changing how it calculates the tourism balance — that is, the difference, measured in U.S. dollars, between inbound and outbound tourism. Since June, the Central Bank has split “digital services,” such as payments on streaming or e-commerce platforms, into a separate category from more traditional tourist expenditures, such as travel, tickets, and credit card expenses abroad. With the old method, the country would have a US$10 billion negative tourism balance, and with the new one, the negative balance is US$7 billion, the Tourism Secretary posted on X.