For those who have not heard, there was a volcanic eruption on April 22 near Puerto Varas, Chile -- the host site of the upcoming Adventure Travel World Summit this October. Some of the ATTA team are in Brazil this week for World Travel Market Latin America and they have been able to meet with Chilean companies and representatives from Turismo Chile to get real-time information. We are relieved to report that our partners are doing well and we’ll look forward to seeing them in October for the Summit. If there are needs expressed in regards to this situation we will communicate those out to the ATTA membership.
Following is the information we have gathered from our partners & members:
Wednesday, April 22nd at 5:50 PM local time, after 43 years of inactivity, the Calbuco Volcano located in the Lake Region of Chile unexpectedly erupted. A "preventive red alert" has been declared; this involves the evacuation of the inhabited areas and small towns within a radius of 20 kms (13 mi) from the volcanic cone.
The cities of Puerto Varas, the main site for the upcoming Adventure Travel World Summit in October and Puerto Montt are located completely outside of that evacuation zone, however, the plume of ash and smoke is visible throughout the region. Excursions have been suspended in the Lake Region, but touristic operation in San Pedro de Atacama, Santiago, Araucanía and Patagonia are ongoing normally.
All the hotels, food and ground services in the cities of Puerto Montt and Puerto Varas are fully operational. As a preventive security measure, commercial flights to and from Tepual (Puerto Montt) airport have been suspended until further notice.
At this point it appears that the Summit won't be affected in October but we stand at the ready to help our Chilean friends in any way possible should the need arise.
Shannon Stowell