São Paulo – Closer ties between Arabs and Brazilians for tourism is also between the targets of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, which has just established the Tourism Committee to promote exchange between visitors from both regions. "The Arab-Brazilian Chamber wants to foster travel on both sides," said director Adel Auada, who is responsible for the committee and is a former president of the Brazilian Travel Agency Association (Abav).
At the moment, the committee is seeking information from agencies, travel operators and embassies to take Arab tourists to Brazil and vice versa. According to Auada, the new organisation is working to bring travel operators closer together and to know how they operate in the Middle East. "We want to know how this work is developed in the Middle East, what they think of the market, if they work directly or through Europe and if the demand for Arab destinations has been rising," said the director.
The Tourism Committee should operate with the support of the Marketing and Market Development Departments at the Arab Brazilian Chamber, which are together preparing a study with the main tourist destinations in the Arab countries. "The Arab Chamber should cover all countries equally. We are not going to work in the production of packages, but in the generation of closer ties with Arab authorities, operators and fair promotion," added Auada.
According to him, there are not yet plans to promote Arab or Brazilian destinations at any fair, but the idea is to start seeing events that open opportunities for promotion of tourism in both regions. "From now to the end of the year, we are going to work to establish partnerships aimed at boosting trips on both sides," said Auada. The director recalled that, with the arrival of the Emirates flight to São Paulo, the tourist flow between the West and East has risen significantly.
According to the director, the greater tourism flow between both regions may contribute to the growth of trade and investment. "Tourism is a sector that calls attention. The public loves reading articles about tourism, for example, and, apart from that, it touches people’s dreams," said Auada, who believes that it is through the promotion of tourism that commercial exchange and investment may rise.
Tourism in Brazil
According to figures supplied by the Brazilian Tourism Institute (Embratur), 75% of tourists seek Brazil for holiday reasons. The characteristics attributed to the country are natural beauty, hospitality, culture of people and mixed colours and races. Last year, around 5 million foreigners visited the country. The majority coming from South America, Europe and the United States.
The inflow of dollars generated through foreign trade, in 2008, was record. Revenues accumulated totalled US$ 5.7 billion, growth of 16.8% over 2007. According to the Embratur director, over 48,000 travel agencies should be operating in the sector in 2010, offering around 116 different tourist regions in the country.
With the World Cup, in 2014, the Ministry of Tourism expects that Brazil should receive between 600,000 and 700,000 foreign tourists. For this, investment is being made not just in 12 cities to host the games, but also in the 65 Brazilian destinations that attract the largest numbers of tourists.
*Translated by Mark Ament
