During the 90s and all 2000, until 2020, the tourist map of the Atlantic coast was divided into age and economic groups. Yes Mar del Plata were the most popular families from all over the country to vacation, Pinamar and Cariló were intended for those who had a higher purchasing level. With San Clemente and San Bernardo for those who were looking for tranquility and enjoyment, There was a city that did not understand wallets or rest and it was Villa Gesell, spa par excellence for those young people who wanted to spend a vacation to pure bowling alleymusic, few hours of sleep and a lot of nightlife. Gesell was beating to the rhythm of young people and their structure was prepared to receive an effervescent and enraged audience between 18 and 35 years.
But everything changed after the fateful night of the January 18, 2020 in which A group of rugbiers murdered the young Fernando Báez Sosa at the exit of the Le Brique Boliche. And what was once fertile land for young people in search of fun, today is a tourist area for families looking for tranquility, shirt walks, shopping walks in the afternoon and silent nights that go out at all at midnight.
Irreversible
Of the three boliches that marked the pulse from Monday to Monday in Gesell during the 2000s, Dixit, Le Brique and Limiting People, only the latter left that even opens only on Fridays and Saturdays and works 10 percent of its infrastructure. “Gesell’s night movement disappeared,” Lisandro aka “Lichi” affirms, Public Public Limit Relationalistthe only bowling alley that still continues in a spa that saw its young audience reduced by more than 65 percent, according to the statistics that arose in the last season, according to the association of hotels, restaurants, confectioneries and related Villa Gesell (AHRCA). “I remember night in the center of Villa Gesell where it was impossible to walk and then that was repeated in the different bowls. Boundary people came boys from Pinamar and other surrounding points. Exploded. Today Gesell is stigmatized and the truth is that we don’t know what will happen to the future. It gives sadness to see the closed bowling alley in the middle of the season and when we open, there are no more than a thousand people when 20 thousand entered. ”
As never before, a night tour of the center of Villa Gesell returns photographs of many families with small children, alone and in less quantity couples, older adults. While there are young people who come together in restaurants and pubs that after a certain time begin to spend music, the imprint of their streets is much quieter than the one that can be observed at the same time in tourist squares such as Mar del Plata and Pinamar, the Two great winners with this paradigm shift.
For Carlos López, head of the Chamber of Business and Bars of the Province of Buenos Aires (CEDIBBA)The explanation lies in the fact that in addition to the emotional shock that was the case Fernando Báez Sosa, many political decisions discouraged the young public to vacation in Gesell. “Restrictive measures were taken that generated a hostile environment not only for young people, even for all types of people, such as excessive controls and prohibitions that affect tourist experience,” López reflects.
Mea guilt
The few residents of Villa Gesell, the gastronomic businessmen and several merchants in the area know that they failed as a tourist pole in that fateful summer where they murdered Fernando Báez Sosa And what they are living is a consequence and a continuity of bad decisions. Carlo Ibañez, owner of a famous rotisería of Avenida 3, acknowledges: “It is not being a negative season but we are very far from those summers where we had ranks of teenagers who came to buy after the beach for dinner. That 2020 summer, after the tragedy of Báez Sosa, Gesell was militarized, we seemed to be in a state of place, they did not let the boys go to the beaches with ice cream and all the cars. Who will want to come to spend a place like that. On the other hand I wonder, what parents would send to spend their children where they killed a boy who could be them. ”
As for the cold statistics, the 2025 season is being much higher than what was expected taking into account that tourist centers such as Brazil and Uruguay, to change with the dollar, were well below local values and were a great attraction for People who had not crossed the border for years through the exchange gap.
Red numbers. The first half of January marked 69 percent hotel occupancy, while in the second fortnight, the figure increased to 76 percent. And although the percentage seemed little compared to the 85 of Mar del Plata and 96 of Pinamar, gestelian merchants recognize that in the face of the bad expectations they had, the current figures are not entirely despicable.
Jorgelina ZacaríasManager of a hostel for tourists comments: “This season we are living forces us to rethink the profile of the clients we have to aim at Villa Gesell in the future. Not only for the absence of young people, but also do not spend as before. Then think of a family audience that seeks comfort and peace in its stay and pays for it, would balance our income. We hope that in February I will rebound a bit. ”
According to the Villa Gesell Ministry of Tourismthe city began February with an average occupation of 74%, a survey made this last weekend on a base of 320 accommodations. So the expectations of the sector improved with respect to a gray January, which brought some concerns. The significant thing is that of that total occupation percentage, only 25 percent refers to an age range between 16 and 30 years, with their own autonomy, that is, without their parents or older in the same group.
In Villa Gesell there is still talk of the murder that perpetrated rugbiers in its streets and that apologizes the energies of all passersby. In fact one of the tourist points is the bowling alley Brique him closed and abandoned that acts as a sanctuary of Fernando Báez Sosa. There, per day, flowers, stamps and memories are left. An impromptu altar that no one would dare to prohibit even if it saddens the city.
