Nearly a million expected for the Chile ski season

Chile expects more than 1 million skiers this year, here’s an interesting story from eturbonews.com

“Together with the Sub-Secretary of Tourism and Turismo Chile, we have put forth different actions abroad to strengthen our country as the leader of snow destinations within South America, hoping to achieve an increase of foreign visitors to choose Chile and enjoy its mountains. We have already received a great amount of snow in our ski centers, allowing us to be prepared to receive them,” commented Miguel Purcell, President of the Ski Association of Chile, about the country’s ski season.

The 2014 ski season kicked off in Chile with a ceremony at La Parva Ski Center, attended by the Sub-Secretary of Tourism, Javiera Montes; President of the Ski Association and CEO of Ski Portillo, Michael Purcell; and the CEOs of El Colorado, Peter Leatherbee; Valle Nevado, Ricardo Margulis; and La Parva, Thomas Grob.

“Chile offers a wide range of possibilities associated with winter sports tourism to attract national and foreign visitors,” said Sub-Secretary of Tourism Javiera Montes during the event.

“In the central region we have ski centers in the Metropolitan, Valparaiso and O´Higgins regions, and further south we have complete facilities in the Biobio, Araucania, Los Lagos, Aysen and Magallanes regions. We are estimating that our ski centers will receive 900,000 visitors this season, both domestic and international, of which between 600 and 700 thousand will be concentrated in the central region alone.”

Based on estimates from the Ski Association, members expect to receive a 15 percent increase in the number of tourists over the 2013 season, year on year. In order to provide higher quality conditions and an extended season, members have invested nearly 9.5 million dollars in infrastructure, maintenance and slope improvements.

Read more at CHILE.