Mining community named Uruguay’s Tourist Town of 2018

Minas de Corrales, a community of nearly 4,000 people in northeastern Uruguay, on Monday received the 2018 Tourist Town Award for its proposal to show visitors the history of mining activity in the area.

The town has “a lot of charm,” Tourism Minister Liliam Kechichian told reporters at the ceremony to bestow the award, which seeks to promote tourism development in towns of less than 5,000 inhabitants.

“Minas de Corrales is a community that has very interesting participation by civil society and the project is very nice. It recreates a bit the origins of mining activity in that place,” the minister said.

Kechichian added that the prize, which includes a $30,000 fund, will be used to boost tourist activity in the town.

She also said that this is the sixth edition of the award, which has managed to successfully promote several Uruguayan towns as tourist destinations, adding that the fund, which the Tourism Ministry will receive in 2019, will also be used to support the towns that were in second and third place in this year’s competition: Santa Clara de Olimar and Ramales de Algorta.

The Tourist Town Award, established in 2013, promotes local development projects that push tourism innovation and diversification in small towns in Uruguay.