“We like it a lot... this year the prices aren’t as high as they’ve been,” said Sánchez, one of 309,570 Argentines who visited Uruguay between December 20, 2024, and January 13, 2025, representing nearly half of all visitors to the country, where the U.S. dollar appreciated almost 13% against the Uruguayan peso in 2024 compared to 2023.
In December 2024, the start of the Southern Hemisphere’s summer, more Argentines went on vacation abroad than in the previous year, with Chile, Brazil, and Uruguay as the top destinations.
Between December 2023 and the same month in 2024 the Argentine peso appreciated by around 41% against the official U.S. dollar, thanks in part of a strong adjustment plan implemented by President Javier Milei, an ultra-liberal who came to power at the end of 2023 on vows to “blow up” the central bank, take an axe to the bloated government and kill sky-high inflation.
The stampede of Argentines traveling abroad for their summer vacations is driven by several factors, including the recent devaluation of various foreign currencies, the convenience of nearby destinations accessible by car and the prohibitively high cost of domestic vacations, especially along the Argentine Atlantic coast.
Brazil experienced a surge in tourism after the real depreciated by around 27% in 2024, when it reached a record of 6.6 million foreign arrivals, with Argentines being the main visitors (1.9 million).
