Tourism in Peru does not achieve 50% of the pre-pandemic level in 2022

2022 was not a good year for receptive tourism in Peru, whose figures do not even reach 50% of pre-pandemic levels, said the president of the Peruvian Association of Receptive and Internal Tourism Operators (Aportur), Enrique Quiñones.

“There were zero campaigns promoting receptive tourism abroad last year. Nor has the inbound tourism sector been supported to grow. Quite the opposite. That translates into percentage figures of less than 50% of the total number of tourists that we had before the pandemic, ”he commented.

The union representative blamed the former Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Roberto Sánchez, and the former director of Receptive Tourism of Promperú, Rosa Béjar, for this situation.

“We should be at 1,900,000 tourists at the end of 2022. This figure has been lower than expected. Peru is one of the countries within the region with the lowest growth in terms of receptive tourism, ”he said.

However, he is optimistic that incoming tourism will recover this year, as a result of the joint work between the public and private sectors.

The political situation that occurred at the end of 2022 deteriorated the sector, but I believe in its recovery,” he said.

He said that the projections of the current Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Luis Helguero, to reach 3 million foreign tourists in 2023, can be met.

However, he considered that it will continue with figures below 2019, when about 4.4 million foreign visitors arrived.