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Argentina’s Central Bank Splits Travel From Digital Spend, Shrinking Measured 2025 Tourism Outflows by 23%

The reclassification follows a push by Tourism Secretary Daniel Scioli.

Overview

  • The BCRA’s latest currency market report breaks out card spending on travel and tickets from digital services and cross‑border e‑commerce for July to November.
  • Using the new breakdown, Scioli estimates 2025 tourism outflows at US$10.241 billion versus US$13.350 billion under the prior method, with the balance improving from -US$9.983 billion to -US$6.935 billion.
  • Transactions now excluded from tourism include streaming subscriptions and door‑to‑door online purchases on platforms such as Netflix, HBO, Spotify, Amazon, Shein and Temu.
  • Scioli credited BCRA president Santiago Bausili for the change, which he said corrects a roughly 15‑year practice of aggregating travel with other foreign card payments.
  • Official INDEC data still show heavy net outbound travel in 2025, with 11.19 million resident departures versus 4.78 million foreign arrivals through November and a monthly deficit of 272,418 people in November.