The Route of the 7 Lakes as a star product: the unprecedented international promotion of Villa La Angostura

In an unprecedented action, Villa La Angostura led a strategic tour to promote Northern Patagonia among wholesale operators in the United States and Europe, with the aim of positioning the region as a top-level tourist destination in the most important source markets in the world.

The initiative, which had no precedent due to its scope and modality, was promoted jointly by the Patagonia Entity y Neuquenturand had strong economic support from the private hotel sector of Villa La Angostura, through the resources generated by the platform visiteangostura.comwhich was later joined by the hotel sector of San Martín de los Andes.

A flagship product to attract tourists with high purchasing power

The flagship product of this mission was the emblematic Route of the Seven Lakesintegrated into the National Route 40considered one of the most attractive scenic routes in the country and a key axis to capture the interest of international tourism. The focus was on capturing tourists with high purchasing power coming from the United States and Europe, segments that show a growing interest in destinations with pristine nature such as Argentine Patagonia.

As reported, the tour included an intense agenda of meetings with tour operators and wholesalers from the United States, where in just five days numerous commercial meetings were held aimed at opening new marketing channels and consolidating strategic links with key players in the sector.

The key: public-private coordination

In this context, Martin Sueropresident of the Villa La Angostura Hotel Association and chief tourism advisor of Patagonia for FEHGRA, highlighted the importance of joint work between the public and private spheres.

“These actions to open new markets, where the synergy of Neuquéntur and the economic effort of the private sector were combined, were the necessary impetus to go out and sell our destination in markets such as the United States and Europe, which are large emitters of world tourism,” said Suero.

Suero also highlighted that the possibility of financing this mission with genuine resources from the local tourism sector It represented a key step towards autonomy in international promotion and allowed us to maintain an active presence in highly competitive scenarios.

Regional strategy: Villa La Angostura and San Martín de los Andes

The promotional proposal was not limited only to Villa La Angostura, but was developed in conjunction with San Martin de los Andeswith the aim of strengthening the regional brand and presenting the Patagonian North as a comprehensive destination. In that sense, the strategic alliance between both destinations made it possible to prioritize the tourist experience linked to the Route of the 7 Lakes, positioning it as a high value product for the international visitorespecially for those travelers interested in nature, landscapes and experiential tourism.

First results and projection

According to the organizers, the first leg of the tour yielded highly positive resultswith a favorable reception from international operators, who expressed interest in incorporating the North Patagonian offer into their catalogs.

The experience made evident the relevance of sustaining this type of actions over time and deepening the insertion of Villa La Angostura in global markets, in a context where competition between tourist destinations is increasingly intense. In this way, the town took a significant step in its internationalization strategy, betting on diversify the origin of your visitors and consolidate itself as one of the most attractive destinations in Argentine Patagonia throughout the year.