With that goal, na executive of CrucerosCon has brought a
bill to the General Assembly that calls for casinos operating under such a bill
to function when they are sailing or moored in Uruguay's territorial waters,
which today are not qualified to do .
According to the text, passengers on the cruise will visit these casinos, which
"would allow tourists to go to other tours, watch different shows and,
finally, better distribution to Uruguay and in turn allow to improve indirect
income of cruise activity," he noted in the explanatory statement.
The executive also indicates that in Chile " was adopted a similar
legislation that allows these ships to have casinos open while sailing in
Chilean waters."
Last December, when he realized the development
of this bill, the National Director of Hydrography, Jorge Camaño, told the
Presidency that this was one of the impediments for the cruise ships to land a
few hours in the national ports.
According to data released at the time, in the 2015-2016 season, 196,000
passengers and crew landed at the port of Montevideo and 121,000 in Punta del
Este. Expenditures totaled US$ 7.6 million.
In Montevideo, spending was 59.9% for purchases, 26.2% for food, 8.9% for city
tours, 2.8% and 2.1% for other transportation. In Punta del Este, 55% was spent
on purchases, 25.1% in food, 13.8% on excursions, 4.4% on transportation and 1.6% in other expenses.
Source: GMB / Innovate Gaming / El Pais (Uruguay)
