With all Brazilian regions in the space of the giants of the Lisbon Tourism Exchange, Brazil adheres to the message of reconstruction after the change of governance.
Marcelo Freixo assumed the presidency of Imperator, the Brazilian agency for the promotion of international tourism, in January and does not mince words to describe the gap in Brazilian trade and tourism caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and four years of “generated crises” from the previous one, with many diplomatic, cultural, ethnic and environmental problems…”.
France stopped promoting Brazil as a destination after diplomatic problems and Bolsonaro’s comments about President Macron’s wife. Germany cut the bottom of the Amazon after the fires… The message now is that Brazil is back.”
In a conversation on the sidelines of BTL, in the midst of a 252 square meter stand with juices that recall the exoticism of the destination, the head of Embratur pointed out examples from Colombia, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Argentina and Peru to scare people.
“The epidemic spread all over the world” but the neighbors “recovered more quickly” compared to Brazil, which welcomed 150,000 Portuguese in 2022, against 350,000 in 2005.
“It’s reasonable, but it’s much less than what we had before”, he lamented, adding another negative factor: the price of tickets.
The reconstruction of the image involved the recovery of the Brasil brand, created in 2005 and its replacement by Brasil (with a z) and investment in promotion and planning, with a completely renewed team and new directions, even to manage data and information and create a diagnosis you don’t have.
The legacy of the last government of this government is zero. “It doesn’t have data, it doesn’t have memory”, says Marcelo Frixo.
Attendance at the exhibition made it possible to initiate contacts with the Portuguese government in terms of exchanging information and investing in “foreign tourism”, through the story of who built Brazil and the doors that Portugal opens in Africa.
Ecotourism, the country’s growth, gastronomy and culture are the bets to diversify Brazil’s offer, because “the sun and the beach are also present in the Caribbean. The Amazon is not. Or the Pantanal, a very rich experience with an organized tourist structure ” .
Events tourism, the desire to host the FIFA Women’s World Cup and COP30 are other challenges. On the sidelines, it negotiates with TAP direct flights to Alagoas and Florianópolis.
