(Almost) fully booked: Hotels in Buenos Aires hit decade-high occupancy rates

Hotels in capital recorded highest average room occupancy levels for a decade in 2022, boosted by massive events and domestic tourism boom.

After the hard blow that Argentina’s hotel industry suffered during the first 24 months of the Covid-19 pandemic, 2022 ended with a resounding turnaround.

According to a new report by the capital’s Entur tourism body, “last year ended with very positive signs for the hotel industry, with more domestic tourists than in 2019 and an average [room] occupancy rate of 60 percent,” rising to “peaks of over 90 percent” – the highest figure from the last decade. In economic terms, the contribution was significant as the industry had a turnover of almost US$1.8 billion for the year.

The report, issued by the Ente de Turismo de Buenos Aires (“Buenos Aires Tourism Board”), states that when it comes to tourism, the city is “on the road to recovery.” According to Lucas Delfino, the body’s president, average occupancy last year was 60 percent, surpassing the historical records of 2017, 2018 (which reached 59 percent) and the last figure recorded in the pre-pandemic period (58 percent in 2019). Among that, 2.4 million domestic tourists stayed in hotels in Buenos Aires City, 60,000 more than in 2019.

“Last year we managed to have a large number of tourists from all over the country,” Delfino told Perfil in an interview. “We hope to end 2023 with an even higher number of national passengers in local hotels.”

City Hall officials say that in order to consolidate growth, the body will seek to “extend regulations to include incentives for the construction of new hotels that incorporate spaces designed for “business tourism.”

A look at the peak occupancy rates shows that two of the top three coincided with music concerts. Top of the list was the string of 10 concerts offered by British rockers Coldplay at River Plate’s Monumental stadium, when it “touched” 92 percent, says Entur. The podium was completed by the Easter holiday season, when occupancy rates reached 91 percent and the massive thee-day Lollapalooza music festival, at 82 percent.