Market Share: Chile’s Big Surprise
Written and edited by Juan Lopez and Pablo Retamal
There is no doubt that Chile, as of late, has had a positive performance in relation to tourism arrivals. In the past decade international tourism arrivals have soared to average a 150% increase.
In 2016, Chile’s regional market share was impressive. A ranking of total arrivals in the South America ranks Chile in second place overall:
- Brazil (6.5 million)
- Chile (5.6 million)
- Argentina (5.5 million)
- Peru (3.7 million)
- Colombia (3.3 million)
- Uruguay (3.0 million)
- Ecuador (1.4 million)
Considering the strength of the tourism brands in Chile’s vicinity, it is clear that travel promotion efforts are paying dividends. The makeup of Chile’s market share, as in most countries, is dependent on regional neighbors. In Chile’s case that would be Argentina and Brazil. Approximate figures will show that 45% and 10% of Argentine and Brazilian tourists (respectively) constitute the total of foreign visits to the country.
In 2017, Chile’s performance continues to be on the up. Until August, 4.3 million international travelers have visited Chile. That’s an 18.3% increase in relation to record-breaking 2016. Although Chile’s dependency on economies like Brazil and Argentina continues, there is an opportunity for long-haul markets to grab more market share while Chile attempts to diversify it’s inbound portfolio. Chile is well known for its nature and adventure travel experiences. There is still a vast range of niche opportunities such as birdwatching, fly fishing, family travel, honeymoons, skiing, incentive, indigenous, food and wine tourism.
A 2016 market share break up, will show that arrivals from Argentina, Brazil, Peru, USA and Colombia compose 72% of all the arrivals to the country. In traditionally more incipient markets for Chile, growth is rampant. For example, Chinese visitor numbers doubled (+49.3%) in the past year. France, Australia and the UK boast increments in their 2016 inbound figures of +10.2%, +10.8 % and +10.9% respectively.
