A state-owned complex of beachfront hotels where Argentine workers once stayed for about $10 a night is on the verge of being transferred to the private sector by Javier Milei’s libertarian government, heralding the end of an era of Peronist “social tourism”.
Built in the late 1940s under former president Juan Domingo Perón and his charismatic wife Eva Perón (known as Evita), Chapadmalal’s nine hotels embodied the movement’s core principle of guaranteeing workers’ rights, including to holidays.
Until recently, Argentines could spend a week there, with full room and board, for subsidised prices that sometimes went as low as $3 or $4 a night.