Crystal Ball

LA Times today...

Argentina's Ushuaia rides eco-tourism wave
The Tierra del Fuego city, which bills itself as the End of the World, cashes in as thousands flock to its relatively untouched terrain.

By Patrick J. McDonnell, Times Staff Writer

Ushuaia, Argentina — This is a place where "The End of the World" sells. The theme is celebrated in T-shirts, bumper stickers, coffee mugs and posters. You can't get away from it.
"It's the magic of 'The End of the World,' " says Mayor Jorge Garramuño. "As a brand, it is very powerful."

He's talking geography, not Armageddon.

Ushuaia, situated along the picturesque Beagle Channel in Tierra del Fuego, amid a backdrop of jagged, snow-capped mountains, proclaims itself the world's southernmost city.
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Foreign vacationers, mostly from the United States and Europe, can't seem to get enough of this rugged and glamorous terrain at the tip of South America.

Nonstop flights from Buenos Aires touch down daily. Hundreds of cruise ships now anchor here during the relatively mild months between Christmas and Easter. The number of visitors to Ushuaia approached a quarter-million last year, double the total five years earlier.

Juan Pedro Tomás in Latin Trade, March 2006

Hotel Patagonia

Patagonia - the southern tip of South America - has become a brand name in the tourism world. Its dreamy landscapes seem to entice ever-increasing numbers of visitors. That's why large hotel chains and smaller Argentine companies want to boost their presence at the end of the world.

The Hilton chain plans to open a hotel during the first quarter of 2007 in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego province. The US$13 million property will have 150 rooms. Yowen Hotel, a group of Argentine investors, will build the Hilton Ushuaia while Hilton will manage the brand and decide the architecture, as well as oversee day-to-day hotel affairs.

Hilton's managers for the region recognize that the "world's southernmost city'' is a great growth market since none of its international competitors are there. The company plans to position itself as the highest-caliber luxury hotel in the area. The new Hilton Ushuaia will have meeting and events salons, a gymnasium, a heated pool, restaurant and bar packaged in a property overlooking the Beagle Channel and surrounded by Patagonian forest, says Tom Potter, vice president for Hilton's Latin American operations. "Ushuaia is visited by a very significant number of foreign tourists and besides, it's the starting point for many trips to Antarctica,'' says Potter.