Uruguay tourism up 9.5% in November, and the war of the Casinos rages on

Tourist arrivals in Uruguay jumped 9.5% in November against the same month last year, impervious apparently to the crisis so severely affecting other areas in the world. The total to date is about 2 million arrivals, according to the Tourism Ministry, as cited by El País.


Maybe part of it is fueled by the current "war of the casinos" raging in the Punta del Este Peninsula. This weekend, a momentous one marked by the start of the First Southamerican Beach Games, the usual motorcycle "convention" with several hundred bikes roaring around, and the national holidays in both Argentina and Brazil, saw the inauguration of the new Nogaró casino, now "by Mantra."

The occasion was celebrated with a Ruben Rada live show minutes after (or was it concurrently) with cranes putting the finishing touches on the revamped facade of the decades old establishment located at the beginning of Gorlero. Back at the farm, I mean, at the Conrad casino, a poker tournament dished out USD1.5 million in prizes, but management was really rankled when it found out its hotel guests had received in their rooms hand delivered invites to the rival´s opening party.


Opening night, with scaffolding still up...

Conrad has been fighting in and out of court to prevent Mantra from taking over the Nogaró casino on grounds that its license granted over a decade ago guaranteed it exclusivity foreverandeverandeverandever in the private casino field, and that Mantra is benefitting from Conrad´s advertising budget. The hotel claims it spends USD10 million in promotion overseas. Authorities say competition is healthy, and frankly, seeing the Nogaró clean up and join the 21st century seems to be "for the greater good," and that includes Conrad.