RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Federal Government defined 20 strategic measures to recover tourism in Brazil. The “Guide to Economic Recovery of Tourism in Brazil” was launched Tuesday (23) in Brasília.
The study on which the document is based was conducted by a specialized consultancy that heard 42 tourism business people and specialists from all the states and all the sector’s chains. In addition, the consultancy conducted an online survey and evaluated tourism practices in 10 countries.
Among the 20 initiatives for the resumption of tourism are short and long-term measures, a stimulus to demand, promotions, access to credit lines, incentives for the calendar of events, and dissemination abroad of Brazilian tourist destinations.
The guide’s objective is to help the resumption of Brazilian tourism with safety and responsibility and recover the sector from the socio-economic impact caused by the Covid-19 pandemic with the paralyzation of activities.
According to the study, in Brazil, 93% of all tourists are locals. In 2019, Brazilian tourists spent on travel abroad US$17.6 billion, while foreign tourists spent US$5.9 billion in Brazil.
“When talking about international tourism, the most significant barrier our country has is language, because nobody speaks English in Brazil. Our Ministry is already finalizing an easy English method, which you will soon be introduced, and we will overcome this language barrier with at least 90% of what the tourism industry needs,” announced the Minister of Tourism, Gilson Machado.
RESUMPTION
In November last year, the Ministry of Tourism launched “Tourism Resumption”, an initiative with projects and actions for the area to be implemented by July 31, 2021. The measures brought together efforts from public and private industry, the third sector, and the S System, including Sesc, Senai, Sesi, and Sebrae.
The efforts for the Tourism Resumption resulted in the publication of provisional measures that address issues such as the rules for rebookings and cancellations in the tourism sector and emergency actions to mitigate the effects of the Covid-19 crisis in the industry.
In addition, the recovery measures guaranteed the promotion of free qualification courses for the sector, the launch of the Investment Portal, and the investment of about R$200 million in the delivery to the population of 42 tourist infrastructure projects on Brazilian soil.
The adhesion to the Responsible Tourism Seal, an action that aims at the adoption of a series of biosecurity protocols, and the launching of incentive campaigns for the resumption of safe travels, as well as the facilitation of access to credit, helped mitigate the impact caused by Covid-19 in Brazilian tourism.
Tourism in Brazil employs 7 million people and accounts for 8.1% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is the sum of all the wealth produced in the country. The impact reaches 53 segments of the productive chain.
“Brazil produced 372,000 jobs with signed work cards in August. And now what is more interesting: 180,000 in the tourism sector. How important you are! And I’ll go even further: by February, we will create 500,000 formal jobs,” said Minister Gilson Machado during the event.