Bolivia To Develop New Ski Resort!
Despite the richness and diversity of natural resources, feeble infrastructure and outstandingly unspoiled areas, Bolivia has not so far been able to attract as much US and European tourists as its neighbor Peru.
Lack of accommodation and electricity supply made many travelers change their minds about visiting this country. Building of new ski resort on Mount Mururata, 35km east of La Paz, in collaboration with Austrian specialists will also position the country higher on the Latin American skiing market, among Argentina and Chile. Mururata is a mountain in the Cordillera Real of Bolivia.
Approximately 35 km East of La Paz, the Mururata lies to the North of the Illimani. The Mururata offers relatively easy climbing, as its shape does not contain difficult obstacles. Bolivia's only other ski resort is now almost certainly closed. For many years the glacier on Chacaltaya served as Bolivia's only ski resort. It was the world's highest lift-served ski area and the northernmost in South America as well as the world's second most equatorial after Maoke, Indonesia. The rope tow, the very first in South America, was built in 1939 using an automobile engine; it was notoriously fast and difficult, housed in the site's original clapboard lodge, and is now inoperable.
The road to the base of the 200-meter (660 ft) drop is reached by a narrow road, also built in the 1930s. Traditionally, due to the extreme cold weather, the lift operated exclusively on weekends from November to March. Since 2009, skiing has restricted to a 600-foot (180 m) stretch that sometimes receives sufficient snowfall for a run during the winter, though recent reports indicate that the area has ceased to operate and that the car engine lift has given up the ghost. Bolivia ranks 141 on the 2015 World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index and the authorities’ goal is to push the country up to 100.
The new tourism development strategy and $800 million investments (both government and private sector money) aim to attract 7.1m visitors a year by 2020. Improvements in transportation links between the Andes and the Amazon, upgrades of Santa Cruz de la Sierra airport and next year’s opening of new boutique hotels and new Marriott, Starwood and Accor hotels are all projects that will make the country more appealing for visitors, while Bolivia’s tourism will go upmarket, according to the tourism ministry. “We intend to position Bolivia as a top destination in South America. It is a synthesis of the region: the Amazon, the Andes, valleys and indigenous communities”, tourism minister Marko Machicao declared about the government’s plan.