Sernatur - National Tourism Service of Chile

The Servicio Nacional de Turismo, known across Chile as Sernatur, is the public agency that carries out the country's tourism policy. It belongs to the Ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism, and its mandate covers promotion of destinations, supervision of service quality, tourism statistics, and subsidized travel for groups that could not otherwise take a holiday. The national directorate works from Avenida Condell in Providencia, a central commune of Santiago, and regional directorates operate in all sixteen regions, from Arica y Parinacota in the north to Magallanes and Chilean Antarctica in the far south.

Where visitor traffic concentrates, the service adds local offices. These operate in San Pedro de Atacama, Easter Island, Chillan, Los Angeles, Arauco, La Union, Osorno, Chiloe, Palena, and Puerto Natales, the gateway town to the Torres del Paine national park.

Origins and legal framework

State tourism administration in Chile began with the Direccion de Turismo, created by decree in April 1960, and the regional tourism councils added by law in 1969. Decree Law 1224 of 8 November 1975 merged those functions into the present service and gave it authority to investigate, plan, promote, and coordinate tourist activity nationwide. The agency has answered to the economy ministry throughout its existence.

The framework changed with the Tourism Law of 2010, Law 20423, which declared tourism a strategic activity for the economy and created an Undersecretariat of Tourism inside the ministry. Since then the undersecretariat writes policy while Sernatur executes it on the ground. The mission that resulted is concrete: run plans and programs based on the National Tourism Policy, push sustainable development of the industry, raise quality and competitiveness among providers, and promote Chilean destinations and attractions at home and abroad. The same 2010 reform period followed a major earthquake, and the agency spent those years rebuilding demand for affected coastal and lake districts.

Registers, seals and traveler information

Sernatur maintains the national register of tourism service providers. Registration is free. For accommodation providers and adventure tourism operators it is compulsory, which gives travelers a way to check whether a rafting operator or a cabin complex works formally before booking. The register is public and searchable by region, destination, and type of service.

Two distinctions sit on top of the register. The Sello Q certifies service quality against Chilean technical standards, and the Sello S recognizes sustainable management. Certifications continue at a steady pace; in June 2026 the quality seal went to a casino hotel in Copiapo, in the Atacama region.

Turismo Atiende and the information offices

Turismo Atiende is the assistance channel for travelers and businesses. It answers questions and receives complaints about registered providers through a national call center, a WhatsApp line, and a virtual appointment system. A network of tourist information offices staffed at no charge operates along the whole country, attending Chilean and foreign visitors in person, online, and by telephone. The offices hand out maps and route material and record visitor queries that feed back into planning.

Statistics

The Dataturismo platform publishes arrivals, overnight stays, spending, and employment figures for the industry, and the agency has begun releasing a saturation index that tracks pressure on heavily visited destinations. Forecasts appear before each holiday period. For the winter break of 2026 the service projected more than 2.9 million trips within Chile, with the Valparaiso region expected to receive the largest share of travelers.

Social tourism programs

A distinctive part of the agency's work is subsidized travel, which moves tens of thousands of people each year during the low season. The trips keep hotels, restaurants, and bus companies working outside the summer peak while opening travel to people who rarely leave their home region.

• Vacaciones Tercera Edad subsidizes package holidays for older adults and retirees.
• Gira de Estudio, launched in 2007, covers about 70 percent of the cost of supervised trips for secondary school students, and since 2011 it has included subsidized private schools.
• Turismo Familiar takes lower income families on short subsidized breaks.

The packages are contracted from registered operators, and departures concentrate between autumn and spring.

Promotion at home and abroad

Domestic promotion runs under the Chile es Tuyo brand, a guide and campaign that collects destinations, events, and local food from every region. International work uses the Chile Travel brand and takes Chilean operators to trade fairs and roadshows. In the first half of 2026 the agency presented Aysen and Patagonia to tour operators and specialized press in London, and it led the national delegation at Fiexpo Latin America, the meetings industry fair where Chile competes for conferences and corporate events.

Each summer and winter season opens with a public launch. The winter 2026 event in the Region Metropolitana brought together national authorities and mountain operators ahead of the ski months, paired with the demand projections for the break.

The agency reports to citizens through annual public accounts and a consultative council, and its national director is appointed through the senior public management selection system. Together with the undersecretariat it prepares the marketing plans that set which markets and routes receive attention each year.

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