RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Domestic flights in Brazil have already recovered 80% of the passenger levels they had before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Tourism Minister Gilson Machado. In an interview with Agência Brasil during a visit to Expo 2020 in Dubai, in the Arab Emirates, Machado said that the Azul airline has even surpassed its pre-pandemic numbers.
“The hub in Recife, for example, is already at 115%. We also see the hotel reservations at the end of the year. There are practically no more hotels in the Brazilian Northeast, in the ecotourism addresses, in the Natal Luz of Gramado and Canela,” said the minister.
International flights, however, are still far from recovery. According to Machado, the air connections with foreign countries currently move only 30% of the passengers before the Covid-19.
Gilson Machado arrived in Dubai with the message that he intends to expand the number of international tourists traveling to Brazil and increase foreign investments in the country’s tourism infrastructure. He believes that many will want to have contact with nature after the pandemic, which would be a solid Brazilian asset.
But, for this, it would be necessary to invest in promoting Brazil abroad. “We are fighting for resources for this because the fight for international tourists is a big dog fight. Tourism is money in the vein of the economy. We see today a country like Mexico, which has US$500 million to promote its country abroad. That is why Mexico receives almost ten times more foreign tourists than Brazil. We are fighting together with the National Congress so that Embratur has more resources”, he added.
The goal is to reach 12 million international visitors, double the record already registered in the country, which was reached in 2018, with 6.62 million. In the previous two years, the numbers were also close to 6.6 million. In 2019, it was expected to beat the 7 million mark due to the visa waivers for Americans, Canadians, Japanese, and Australians.
According to the minister, however, the economic crisis in Argentina, the leading emitter of tourists to Brazil, representing more than a third of the total, frustrated expectations, and Brazil received only 6.35 million international visitors.