With a R$50 billion loss, Brazil Tourism Forum calls for suspension of loan payments

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The president of the National Forum of Secretaries and State Directors of Tourism (FORNATUR) Bruno Wendling, called on the members of the Tourism Commission for support with the government to suspend for one year the payment of loans from the sector to the constitutional funds and the General Tourism Fund (FUNGETUR).

According to Wendling, payments this year are not feasible because of the resurgence of the pandemic.

“We are living the worst moment within the worst moment ever. And tourism, along with the creative economy and the cultural and events sector, are the most affected of all. We need differentiated measures, we need equity. What is this? The most damaged sectors need more help,” he said.

Wendling said that the global tourism sector’s loss in 2020 represented US$1 trillion. In the Brazilian case, the latest tally was R$50 billion by mid-October.

The president of FORNATUR also requested that FUNGETUR resources should be loaned through regional development banks. He said that the fund had R$5 billion to lend, but was unable pass it all on because of bureaucratic issues.

Events sector

In general, Wending believes that it is necessary to have more zero-cost aid from the federal government for the tourism sector. According to him, some states are offering this type of aid in amounts ranging from R$2,000 to R$50,000.

He asked that the project that creates the Emergency Program for the Resumption of the Events Sector, passed in Congress, not be vetoed by the government (PL 5638/20). And he said it is essential to re-edit the law that allowed the suspension of the labor contract or the reduction of the working hours with salary reduction.

Federal Deputy Otávio Leite (PSDB-RJ) said that this re-edition will cost R$9 billion: “The watchword is survival. Urgent re-edition of the provisional measure that suspends contracts, reduces the working hours and allows for oxygen to keep the wheel turning in each tourism company (MP 936/20). Small, medium or large. In all sectors that make up the productive chain of tourism,” said Leite.

The deputy said that, in the medium term, the sector’s situation is also bad because EMBRATUR’s budget for 2021 is insufficient.

Source: Moneytimes