In the 1980s, several Japanese-owned factories opened in Ushuaia, assembling televisions and other electronic goods. But the industrialization drive floundered, leading to shutdowns, labor disputes and factory takeovers.
Authorities hope that tourism, spurred by the peso's loss of value during the 2001-02 Argentine economic crisis, proves more lasting. There are promising signs. Today, even during the dark and chilly winters, visitors are drawn to the End of the World ski runs.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday May 12, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 38 words Type of Material: Correction
Cape Horn: An article in Thursday's Section A on Earth's southernmost city said 16th century explorers Sir Francis Drake and Ferdinand Magellan rounded Cape Horn. They actually went through what is now known as the Strait of Magellan.
Residents, many of them migrants from other Argentine cities, seem mostly upbeat about the tourist influx. The city enjoys a relatively high standard of living and low crime, though prices are high since many products must be brought in.
"This town runs on tourism now," says Gerardo Rouan, a sound engineer from Buenos Aires who drives a taxi here and enjoys the tranquillity with his wife and two young children. But "in a few minutes, I can be in the woods with my children, looking at wild animals."
Others worry that the tourism frenzy and unchecked building boom, now featuring multi-story hotels, may obliterate Ushuaia's small-town essence and further degrade the environment -- the very features that draw visitors.
"We welcome tourists," says Leonardo L. Lupiano, a writer who has lived here for nearly three decades and who bemoans how construction hammers now overwhelm the calls of seagulls. "But what we worry about is that Ushuaia will become like a little Las Vegas and lose its essential identity as the End of the World. That is a great risk."
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patrick.mcdonnell@latimes.com
