An eccentric Swiss ufologist who became known all over the world after he built a gigantic UFO landing pad in the Argentinian desert has passed away at the age of 72.

Terry Werner Jaisli, who hailed from the Swiss canton of the Grisons, passed away in his home country on Christmas Eve.

He had become known during his lifetime for the huge UFO landing pad he started building in the desert near the small city of Cachi in the Argentinian province of Salta in 2008.

He was inspired to build the ‘UFOport’, which took four years to complete, after allegedly sighting two unidentified flying objects hovering in the sky above a plain in the desert.

On that site, which lies at the foot of a mountain range, he decided to construct a landing pad so large that it could be seen from space.

Upon completion, it garnered such curiosity from tourists that the provincial Chamber of Deputies declared it a site of public interest in September last year.

Jaisli lived in Salta for over four years and he also built his own underground residence just outside the UFO landing pad during that time.

The landing pad appears as a number of star-shaped formations, the largest being a 36-pointed star with a diameter of 48 metres and with another 12-pointed star in its centre.

The site now has a caretaker in charge of its maintenance, and a neighbourhood has even sprung up nearby.

The neighbourhood, christened the ‘Barrio Ovnipuerto’ (‘UFOport Neighbourhood’), is soon due to be hooked up to the electricity grid.

Cachi mayor Americo Liendro has acknowledged that the UFO landing pad has “favourably influenced tourism”.

He was quoted as saying in Argentinian media: “Every visitor who comes to the town wants to visit it. We are improving it, we are repainting the stones, we are restoring it in an integral way.”

The mayor announced that a memorial will be held for the deceased ufologist at 9am on Sunday, 2nd January.