More than 9,200 Argentines have traveled abroad in recent days despite the biggest restriction on flights

More than 9,200 Argentines and residents traveled abroad last week, showing Argentines are choosing to continue traveling despite new immigration restrictions imposed by the government in the event of a pandemic.

These restrictions have reduced the number of international flights. And at the same time, the state has put the responsibility of what happens to the passengers: as is happening all over the world, in Argentina. there is no longer the consideration with which the situation of the tens of thousands of stranded people was considered when all flights were suspended in early 2020.

Data accessed by Bugle to the National Directorate of Migration threw 9,264 Argentinian and foreign trips abroad with national documentation between Friday March 27 and Friday April 2, including 44.8% percent are tourists, 26.7% residing abroad, while 12.8% traveled for work. 6.05% did so because they left the country and the remaining 6.8% for “other” reasons.

“The numbers are generally much lower than historical numbers,” he said. Bugle the director of migration, Florencia Carignano. Today they calculate that there is 37,000 Argentinian tourists abroad. “However, in the event of a pandemic, 45% of those who go abroad say doing so for tourism is still a high percentage at the time of uncertainty the world is experiencing in a pandemic,” Carignano said.

“This is not only because of the new tensions (which actually prompted the government to impose these new measures), but also because of the current complexity of falling ill abroad. It is also a personal decision. . Everyone already knows. What is happening. Is happening, “he added.

The figure is actually much lower than that of the failed crisis of 2020, when the state was faced with the demands of more than 200,000 Argentines who were around the world wanting to return. Then he had to organize repatriation flights. Most of those stranded had to pay for it, but others, like those organized by the Air Force in South America, operated at state expense.

Of the 9,264, about 3,082 have traveled to the United States, according to official sources, the trips of those who can get vaccinated at a time when the drug is still lacking. They are followed in the list as destination, Spain, Chile, Bolivia, France and Mexico. Brazil is in 12th place and Uruguay in 14th.

Today, The administrative decision by which the government restricted the entry of flights from Brazil, Chile and Mexico is in force, which joins the ban which already weighed on the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. But at the same time, the government has reduced the number of flights arriving at Ezeiza, as seen even with American Airlines planes coming from the United States. The company said several flights had been canceled.

At the same time, the government has suspended entry through border crossing points for those who left the country between April 1 and December 25, 2020. It has been established that they can only return through airports in ‘Ezeiza, San Fernando, Jorge Newbery and via the port of Buenos Aires.

Internally, there was also a strong tourist movement. As the Argentine Confederation of Medium-Sized Enterprises (CAME) reported yesterday, around 1.9 million local tourists visited different parts of the country during the long Easter holidays and spent around $ 11,400 million during those four days.

It is an industry that was desperate for the prospects they had last year when Holy Week came a few days after the imposition of the strict quarantine that began on March 19.