San Pedro de Atacama the most visited zone in the region

An increase of 20 per cent, in relation to the same period of 2003, was registered in the amount of visits of either national or foreign tourists in the San Pedro de Atacama region, according to the Servicio Nacional de Turismo (Sernatur), based on data given by the Instituto Nacional de Estadistica (INE)

N ational visitors increased in 20,2 per cent (3.229) and in the case of foreign tourists it was registered an increase of 24,0 per cent (8.198) between January and February of 2004.

According to the information, this increase is inserted within the rise of incoming tourists that was registered in the whole of the Second Region of the country and it was of about 9,1 per cent.

The calculation was done based on a sample of 116 accommodations facilities, which detected the entry of 49.356 tourists during the festival time of this year, versus the 45.227 tourists registered in the last period.

The general director of Sernatur, Sergio Saavedra, was optimistic with this result, considering that historically the amount of tourists comes down during the festival's time.

In this aspect, he mainly emphasized the increase showed in the number of national tourist flow, and the fact that Antofagasta is being watched with a different view in respect to tourism

At the same time, Saavedra conferred this advance to a joined effort between the public sector and companies

veronica@sanpedroatacama.com