Argentina’s restaurant and hotel inflation accelerated to 1.5% in October

Prices at restaurants and hotels in Argentina rose 1.5% in October from September, speeding up from a 1.1% monthly increase in September, according to data released by the national statistics agency INDEC on Thursday, November 12.

The increase showed a mixed picture for the sector. On a monthly basis, inflation in the restaurants and hotels division accelerated by 0.4 percentage points. On an annual basis, the pace eased. Prices in the category were 33.6% higher than a year earlier, down from the 34.6% annual rate recorded in September.

The October reading came from INDEC’s national consumer price index, which tracks the prices paid by households across the country and includes a breakdown for six statistical regions. The restaurants and hotels division covers one of the service categories watched closely as Argentina continues to monitor the path of consumer prices after a long period of high inflation.

From December 2025 through October, prices in the restaurants and hotels division rose 26.4%. That was almost the same as the cumulative increase in the overall consumer price index, which stood at 26.3% over the same period. Even so, the category moved more slowly than the headline index in October. Argentina’s overall monthly inflation rate was 2.2%, meaning restaurants and hotels rose 0.7 percentage points less than the national average that month.

Regional data showed wide differences in how prices moved. The smallest monthly increase in October was in Cuyo, where the restaurants and hotels division rose 0.5%. The largest was in the Pampas region, where prices climbed 2.4%. That left a gap of 1.9 percentage points between the lowest and highest regional readings.

The national result placed most other regions between those two extremes, underscoring that service inflation in this category did not move evenly across the country. The regional spread is notable because the report showed a modest national monthly increase overall, yet some parts of Argentina posted gains well above that average.

The October figures suggest that price pressures in restaurants and hotels remained present, even as the annual comparison softened. That combination can happen when monthly increases pick up from one month to the next but are still lower than the rates seen in the same period a year earlier. INDEC’s data showed exactly that pattern in October: a faster month-to-month rise alongside a slower year-over-year rate.

The report also highlighted that this category has largely tracked the broader inflation trend so far in 2026. While restaurants and hotels increased less than the headline rate in October alone, their cumulative rise since December was almost identical to the overall index. That suggests households have continued to face price increases in dining and lodging that, over the course of the year, have remained close to the national inflation average.

INDEC published the October report as part of its regular consumer price update, using nationwide data and regional breakdowns to show how prices changed during the month. The previous monthly report, published October 13, had shown a 1.1% increase in the restaurants and hotels division for September. The October release indicated that pace did not continue to slow, even though the annual measure moved lower.