The number of tourists arriving in Uruguay over the first two months this year rose 11.6 percent compared with the same period in 2014, officials said Monday.

Tourism Undersecretary Benjamin Liberoff said roughly 750,000 foreign tourists came to Uruguay during the peak Southern Hemisphere summer months of January and February.

The visitors spent $640 million during their stay, an increase of 2 percent from the previous year, he said.

The inflow of Brazilian tourists in January and February increased almost 25 percent over the same period last year, while the number of Argentine visitors grew “a little bit over 10 percent,” he said.

The number of tourists from Europe grew 19 percent, while arrivals from North America increased by 2 percent and tourists from other Latin American countries climbed 10 percent.

More than 170 cruise ships have stopped in Uruguay so far this year, bringing more than 380,000 passengers and crew members, Liberoff said.

Date: March 16, 2015

Source: http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2379399&CategoryId=23620