He conducted the search at the request of a friend who had been thinking for a while about taking a trip to the coast at the end of the year and reached out to him. He assumed that as a hotel entrepreneur he would have a chance of finding accommodation for him. The search was carried out on Sunday afternoon, and even then it was useless: the web platforms most used by travelers processed the request and the only and repeated response was a warning in a clearly visible box along with an exclamation mark: “There are no more accommodations…”.
“Today you want to come to this whole region and there is no space. You put January 2nd, 3rd, 4th as destinations like Mar de las Pampas, Las Gaviotas, Cariló and you won’t find anything,” explains Víctor Borgia, president of the Mar de las Pampas branch of the Association of Tourism Hotels of the Argentine Republic (AHTRA).
As the small and charming Atlantic Coast destinations exhaust their offerings, so too does the energy with which a flood of orders arrive in town. Mar del Plata, for example, has already registered one on Sunday 73% reservations for New Year’s Eve. A managing director of the local hotel association spoke of a “flood of reservations”.
Of reservations and long-awaited orders and last-minute arrivals that, after a Christmas with discrete numbers, dispelled all doubts and promised a full end of the year on the Atlantic coast, a close that is a perfect analogy to the mercury in the thermometer: it rises and rekindles enthusiasm for proximity to the sea.
Patricia arrived alone in Mar del Plata on Sunday evening on the General Roca, which left Plaza Constitución after six in the afternoon. When he intensively studied the weather app in the last few days, he knew immediately that he would not be staying at home, in Villa Dominico.
“Here I thought 31 would be hell, 38°. Here I thought it would be more than 30 too, but I assure you it’s not the same, this is something different,” he says as he takes advantage of another spectacular day in Mar del Plata on a beach in La Perla. It was difficult for me to get a ticket, I persisted on the site until one was available. Since I live with my family, I haven’t turned around yet,” he jokes.
May the good weather forecast be an incentive for travelers – who, if they have taken advice, know that they will find daily maximum temperatures here between 25°C and 29°Cand with no rain in sight, and that these coasts should serve as a promise for thousands of Buenos Aires residents (who have put reservation records into operation) to escape the announced heat wave, was the desire of the operators of the tourism sector. It’s your birthday, and that’s an added bonus: many extend their New Year’s stay until Sunday.
In other places such as Pinamar, Cariló and Costa Esmeralda, families are now arriving to stay until mid-January, but they are the ones who have properties there. Those who go to huts, hotels or apartments share the stay.
“It’s all like that, now we go from 2 to 4 days with these last minute orders,” explains Fabián Salvucci, responsible for the Hotel Savoia in Ostend and Puerto Hamlet in Cariló and regional delegate of the AHTRA. “Today, all companies are very busy at the end of the year and orders continue,” he explained. At these times your hotel in Cariló will be at 100% capacity and the one in Ostend will be at 90% capacity.
Salvucci understands that “those who didn’t know whether to come or not, the warmth suddenly pushed them to go out,” and he believes that the season “will happen there: because of the weather.”
Borgia, from the cozy Apart and Spa Miradores del Bosque in Mar de las Pampas, said that in view of this last-minute tourist request, the flight service between Metropolitano Airport and Villa Gesell Airport (40-minute flight), which Humming Airways has been operating since the first days of this month, is “at full capacity”, recalling that it will operate throughout the season.
“It is of central importance for the tourist resorts of the region and for the noble public of the ‘Pampa’ – as the forest located south of Gesell is often called. It is still a very noble destination and offers the luxury of living without haste: the slogan is simple, but it is not, because I can assure you that what it proclaims is more ostentatious than a 7-star hotel,” he points out in advance of an end of the year with full occupancy and a start To This looks extremely encouraging in 2026.
Mar del Plata. correspondent
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