Brazil steps up efforts to attract international tourists
Brazil’s international tourism agency Embratur has intensified initiatives that show the world a country teeming with appealing destinations, in a bid to foster the nation’s economic and social development.
In the first half of 2022 alone, international promotion campaigns are said to have brought in nearly BRL 50 million in trips. “Every real we invest in international promotion is multiplied by 23,” Embratur head Silvio Nascimento said in a Sunday (Aug 21) interview on Brasil em Pauta, aired by public channel TV Brasil.
Tourism accounts for eight percent of Brazil’s GDP, Nascimento remarked, second only to agribusiness, mining, and the car industry. “Along with income generation, there’s also the generation of employment and support for companies. It’s extremely important for Brazil,” he noted.
Ecotourism
After the period of isolation due to COVID-19, tourism in Brazil is getting back on track. International travelers, the head of Embratur went on to say, have been on the look out for more contact with nature, which has favored Brazilian ecotourism. “Nature tourism has been on the rise and we’ve been working together with other environmental agencies to encourage, promote, and provide infrastructure in such destinations,” he stated.
The expansion in the sector implies no decline in the demand for major cities across the country, Nascimento pointed out. As a recent survey conducted by the agency with the American public shows, Rio de Janeiro ranks first in the demand for Brazilian destinations, Fernando de Noronha, in Pernambuco state, ranks second, with São Paulo in third place.
Business
On the other hand, business tourism has also shown satisfactory results. Embratur’s investments in the sector have shown significant gains, mainly due to the higher average ticket of this type of tourist. São Paulo is the most sought-after destination for tourism in this segment, with about 60 percent of business events in Brazil. Rio de Janeiro and Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná state, rank second and third in the amount of business-oriented events in the country.
