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According to the 2000 census, Colonia Carlos Pellegrini is a town of just 881 residents, although in many ways it feels far smaller. Visitors to the area will never see more than 50 people with the exception of a public holiday or when school is let out. The town has nearly 250 school-age children.
Sitting on the banks of the Esteros del Iberá (Iberá Wetlands), Colonia Carlos Pellegrini offers visitors to the area a place to spend a night or two as they enjoy the unique wildlife of the area, which includes caiman, capybara, exotic birds and more. While the Iberá Natural Provincial Reserve was created in 1983, tourism is relatively new for the town. Until 1997, Colonia Carlos Pellegrini’s main income was drawn from agriculture and cattle ranching.
The town’s emphasis on tourism began in 1997 with the construction of its first three hotels (Posada Aguapé, Ñande Retá, and Posada de la Laguna) and today 80% of the town’s residents work in jobs related to tourism. Colonia Carlos Pellegrini and the adjacent Provincial Park Ranger’s office receive approximately 20,000 visitors a year. This is an impressive number considering that only 5,512 people visited the area in 2002, the year that tourism really began to take-off.
Colonia Carlos Pellegrini has made a conscious decision to not be taken over by tourism and has a number of building codes that limit new hotel construction to one floor in height, no more than 10 rooms, and no more than three beds per room. The town is also limiting home and business construction to parcels of land that are 60×60 meters and the land may not be subdivided. Nonetheless, tourism has led to beautification projects in addition to the renovation of the town’s hospital, construction or repair of homes, buildings, and a new camping site.