Saturday, December 13, 2008

Argentine Strikes Destroying Tourism?



Well it seems that a blend of the world's economic times, routine Kirchner government incompetence and public revolt are now destroying the stability of the tourism industry here.

Strikes in particular are expected to create many issues with tourists. On Thursday the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires advised tourists to take the massive demonstrations here into account when making travel plans.
As many of you know, yesterday the subway workers were on strike for higher wages. Gas station owners and over 100,000 bank employees are expected to go on strike next week. Taxi drivers have announced that they are going to strike on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

With the seizure of the nation's pension fund, inflation sitting just about at 30% and annual growth of only about 1.5% (as contrasted to the 8% the last several years) and an estimate by UBA economist Jarvier Kulesz that the economy will only grow by about 0.3% next year, I would imagine that this is merely the beginning.

Hang on, it should prove to be an interesting ride. In the mean time I hear the beaches in Uruguay are great this time of year, and guess what.... no Kirchners, no D'Elia and no strikes.........

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