Horacio Humberto Blodek, Minister of Tourism at Misiones province, Argentina

Iguazu Falls, nestled in the frontier between Argentina and Brazil, have been recently chosen among the new Seven Wonders of the World, a distinction that will certainly mark a milestone in terms of its development as a destination. That’s the thought of the minister of Tourism at Misiones province, who tells us about the strategy decided by the Argentinean side in a bid to make visits soar to that amazing site.

Can you tell us why the nomination of Iguazu Falls among the new Seven Wonders of the World is so important?
Well, after this selection process in which we competed against more than 400 destinations for a position among the new Seven Wonders of the World, and having overcome the different stages of the contest, we were among the 28 finalists, and we were notified on 11/11/2011, at 11 hours, that we had been handpicked among those wonders, and the truth is that I want to highlight the work we have done, including the support provided by the provincial government, the nation’s ministry of tourism, the rest of the provinces, the private sector and the people, of course, because there are millions of people that voted for Iguazu among those wonders.

We know that this achievement will represent a milestone for Argentina’s tourism development, and specifically the province of Misiones. Counting on a wonder destination will undoubtedly benefit us in short, middle and long terms, and this reality compels us to take bigger challenges; we have to redouble our efforts because we know that this process we have gone through and the subsequent benefits require more work, and we are convinced that Iguazu Falls, in Misiones province, are placed in a site with plenty of nature to show, a wonderful zone.

Misiones is characterized by possessing many rivers, large jungle zones, waterfalls and a lot of biodiversity; we believe that it’s a one-of-a-kind site and we’re very rigorous when it comes to preserving it, as it’s the main capital we have.

There is an important element to be highlighted: Iguazu is not only Misiones’s heritage, so this nomination is going to benefit two countries …
That’s right, Iguazu is a resource we share with other Brazilian brothers, it not only belongs to Argentina, so we believe that it represents a great opportunity because both Brazilians and Argentineans will be promoting this product, which is remarkably important as we’ll be two countries working for the same goal.

Just think of the value of South America as tourism region due to its resources. Brazil possesses two attractions as natural wonder: Amazonas River and Iguazu Falls; but they also have the Christ in Rio de Janeiro, a cultural wonder, and Peruvian brothers have the sanctuary of Machu Picchu. So, South America is going to generate a significant tourism offer for the world, as it counts on two natural wonders and two cultural wonders, and that’s something to write home about as not all regions possess these attractions.

So, we believe that this is going to exceedingly help local and regional destinations, but I insist, our intention and vision is to gradually and progressively develop it, so we preserve that natural and ecological environment that makes Misiones so attractive, and that’s crucial for us.

Do you have a governmental economic budget to support the promotion of Argentinean Iguazu Falls?
Look, we count on the budget provided by Misiones province, it’s a provincial budget, though the province obviously receives national resources that are not only aimed at promoting the Falls. These resources are given to the province and the local government decides how to invest them.

During this period, with the government of doctor Closs, current governor reelected to that position with over the 78 percent of votes in Misiones province, tourism has been a State policy for us and we’ll continue boosting the promotion and investments aimed at improving the quality of access ways to each of the tourism attractions, specially working hard on the education to raise awareness and train up skilled labor addressed to dealing with tourists coming to Misiones, because we affirm that Misiones possesses excellent tourism attractions such as the waterfalls, the Jesuit reductions, Mocona waterfalls, or the cross of Santa Ana, but we are also working to deliver high quality services.

A question about it, when is your governor going to face new elections?
Our governor has been reelected and is going to be in office for other four years, so this is a very opportune moment and I also want to highlight that the president of the republic, doctor Cristina Fernandez de Kichner, has also been reelected for the next four years, so we’re closely working with the nation’s ministry of tourism, which depends on the national government as we do on Misiones province with doctor Closs, who will continue supporting the development of tourism.

How can you get to Iguazu by air?
Iguazu can be reached in different ways. We count on the flag company, Aerolineas Argentinas, which has increased the number of flights from overseas.

These flights mainly came to Buenos Aires and foreign tourists had to visit the capital in the first place; so we have created a federal circuit that includes all of the country’s tourism destinations. So tourists visiting the republic of Argentina don’t have to compulsory go to Buenos Aires in order to visit Bariloche, Mendoza, Cordova or Salta, but they fly on this federal flight network joining the circuit with each of the destinations and Misiones province, through Iguazu Falls, has also received this benefit and another one.

I’m talking about the reopening of the Rio de Janeiro-Puerto de Iguazu flight, and we’re working so international flights have a stop in Iguazu.

What company is operating this Rio de Janeiro-Iguazu link?
Aerolineas Argentinas, and I want to point out that, for next year’s April and May, foreign tourists visiting Argentina on that company are going to have zero fares to travel from Buenos Aires to Posadas, or Iguazu, a policy to promote the development of these destinations, mainly during low season. Some days ago, I had a conversation with London tour operators and they told me that this is a smart move.

Well, we keep on working. We believe that we have improved the connectivity and we’re working had on the quality aspect, in order to attract more tourists for Argentina and specially Misiones province, where we’ll be setting a new income record in terms of visits to Iguazu National Park. Last year, we exceeded the number of 1,200,000 tourists, and this year we are already over one million, so we’re looking forward to closing the year with 1.3 or 1.4 million arrivals.

What’s the average stay of people visiting Iguazu?
It varies, but we’re working for tourists visiting Iguazu to spend most of the days in the province, so we have designed a schedule for companies traveling by bus and staying in Puerto Iguazu. Misiones province will give them one thousand pesos per each micro-bus, if besides staying in Iguazu, they spend three further nights in the province.

That’s how we want to promote this policy we’re working on, so tourists visiting Iguazu stay for more days, we’re doing this in collaboration with the private sector, which is the most interested, and obviously the provincial government, willing to incorporate all of the province’s destinations to this strategy.