Pope Leo XIV will draw more than three million tourists to Argentina during a four-day visit expected to mobilize seven million pilgrims across the country.
The pontiff is scheduled to remain in Argentina from Sunday through Wednesday. The Argentine Chamber of Tourism said the trip will unleash widespread travel demand, naming the capital city of Buenos Aires, the shrine city of Luján, and the central province of Córdoba as the primary destinations for the crowds.
A preliminary study from the Argentine Tourism Observatory revealed that hotel reservations are rising sharply, driven particularly by foreign arrivals from Brazil, Chile, and Peru. Domestic travel is also surging as residents travel to catch sight of the head of the Catholic Church during a holiday long weekend.
Surge in Buenos Aires and Luján
The city of Buenos Aires projects the arrival of more than 1.2 million visitors from abroad and from Argentina's interior provinces. Tourism officials expect average hotel occupancy across the capital to reach 75 percent during the period.
In Buenos Aires province, the western corridor and the city of Luján represent the largest single gathering point on the itinerary. Officials project that at least two million people will gather there, filling local hotels to complete capacity.
Demand has driven lodging queries to historic levels. Online searches for accommodation in Luján and nearby districts spiked by more than 1,800 percent. Searches in neighboring General Rodríguez surged by 1,354 percent, while queries in the town of Pilar climbed 105 percent.
Luján holds a central place in Argentine religious life as the site of the national basilica dedicated to Our Lady of Luján, the patroness of Argentina. The town routinely attracts major religious processions from across South America.
Hotel demand in Córdoba and border towns
The central province of Córdoba could receive as many as 1.5 million visitors during the pontiff's journey. The provincial capital expects to reach 100 percent hotel occupancy, with advance bookings already hovering around 70 percent.
Nearby resort towns report similar spikes. In Villa Carlos Paz, reservation rates and travel expectations have surpassed the 70 percent mark, while lodging searches in Alta Gracia rose by nearly 400 percent.
The influx also reaches Entre Ríos province along Argentina's eastern frontier. The riverside city of Colón forecasts hotel occupancy above 50 percent as roughly 50,000 worshippers make their way across the border into Paysandú, Uruguay, where a papal event is scheduled to take place.
The chamber noted that the mass mobilization of both pilgrims and conventional tourists will stimulate business for hospitality, dining, transport networks, and commercial retailers across every region included in the pontiff's route.
