Strike in Patagonia ends after 6 days
From Travel Partner TravelArt Chile
After six days of strike the conflict about the gas price increase in southern Chile has been resolved. An agreement, that was acceptable for the government as well as for the citizens’ representatives, was announced yesterday at around 11:00 a.m. local time after long negotiations lead by the minister of energy and mining Laurence Golborne. In the afternoon a declaration setting the price increase to 3% beginning in February 2011 was signed. To lessen the effects of higher prices for the disadvantaged population of the region, 18.000 families will receive subsidies to their gas bill. Starting in March a law regulating the future gas price will be drafted under participation of the citizens.
As a reaction to the agreement, which had been expected for many days, blocked streets were cleared and the strike was ended. By now all street connections are passable again and daily life is unimpaired. All tourist services are operating as usual. Hotels and transport companies hope for a quick return of tourists to the region and plan to invigorate their business through special offers for the rest of the season. Secretary of state Jaqueline Plass, who is in charge of tourism, announced measures to promote the region on the international market and stressed that the guests’ safety in Patagonia can be guaranteed.
During the last week travelArt attended all affected passengers in the best possible way upon agreement with the respective operator. Now we are trying to realize all current trips as fast as possible in the originally booked way. Our sales executives are in direct contact with each of the affected travelers and operators.
