Paraguay´s Soaring Airfares Keep Chasing Tourists Away

Skyrocketing airfares in Paraguay is chasing travelers off and becoming one of the main hurdles the country´s tourist industry has to cope with right now.

A 16-hour roundtrip flight from Buenos Aires to Miami set passengers back some $549. However, a much shorter hop between Asuncion and Buenos Aires that takes approximately three hours to and fro is in the neighborhood of $310.

For MERCOSUR experts and local aviation authorities, there are several reasons for such a small difference between both routes. One of them is service quality, coupled with the possibility that major airlines have to cut costs compared to smaller carriers.

And the trendy low-cost carriers are playing a role of their own. The region has spawned some of the world´s most successful scaled-down airlines of today, including Argentina´s Southern Winds, Brazil´s GOL, Guatemala´s Tikal, Mexico´s Avianca, Chile´s Sky Airline, Uruguay´s U-Air, Panama´s Copa and Peru´s Wayra.

Paraguay, however, is still waiting for its first low-cost to pop up in the local aviation industry.