About 200,000 foreign tourists visited Chile during the Copa America 2015, held between June 11 and July 4 and won by the local team, according to official sources.
The Copa America "offered an image of the country projected to the world," said the Minister of Sports, Natalia Riffo, in a joint press conference with the Minister of Interior, Jorge Burgos, and with the Undersecretary of Interior, Mahmud Aleuy.
Preliminary calculations by the National Chamber of Commerce (CNC) estimate tourism-generated income during the Copa to be between 55 and 80 million dollars, figures that do not include the total number of visitors.
Regarding sports infrastructure, in which the State invested 83 million dollars to improve the stadiums of Antofagasta, La Serena, Viña del Mar, and Concepción, Natalia Riffo stated that the government is already working "to see how we can have a sports management so that the stadiums are used intensively and open to the community."
"Although some depend on municipal administration, we will coordinate that they have a sports management for intensive use," she stressed.
Riffo also positively valued the use of the green card used as a symbol of respect and brotherhood in the stadiums during the singing of national anthems, which in her opinion "represented a change in the way Chilean spectators behaved."
Meanwhile, in the realm of internal politics, Undersecretary Mahmud Aleuy assured that the government did not politically exploit the sports event to improve its image, as claimed by opposition sectors.
"Sports activities have their own context and we do not take advantage of that," emphasized Aleuy.
President Michelle Bachelet, whose popularity has dropped to 27% according to a survey by Adimark published this Monday, attended all of Chile's matches, greeted the players, took photographs with them in the dressing rooms, and received them at La Moneda immediately after defeating Argentina in the final, in a penalty shootout.