Overview
- High-altitude snow and poor road conditions have kept the Paso Cristo Redentor closed since heavy storms began this week and forced a halt to regular passenger traffic.
- Officials announced a temporary schedule that allows only cargo trucks to cross in alternating directions before returning the corridor to full 24-hour passenger and freight service on Friday the 23rd.
- The repeated interruptions this year — totaling about 90 days of closure so far — have sharply cut sales of charter shopping tours and reduced bookings for tourism-focused buses.
- Transport companies and travel agencies report that travelers are shifting to flights, postponing trips, or buying locally and online, and operators offer rebookings or refunds but say customer disruption persists.
- Longer-term factors such as smaller currency savings, higher local imports, tax changes, growth of e-commerce and past security incidents have weakened demand for quick cross-border shopping trips and deepened the economic hit from closures.