Isaura Daniel*
isaura.daniel@anba.com.br
São Paulo – Brazil and Argentina are going to work together to promote their tourist destinations in the United Arab Emirates. The Brazilian Tourism Institute (Embratur) and the National Institute for Tourist Promotion of Argentina (Inprotur) signed last month an agreement for joint promotion of tourism in distant lands. "When a tourist comes from a distant country, his plan is to go on integrated routes," explained Embratur president Jeanine Pires. According to her, in the case of long distance, Brazil wins with joint promotion.
The same agreement is also valid for the promotion of tourist sites in Brazil and Argentina at events in China and India. According to Jeanine, both countries are going to participate in a collective manner in fairs in the tourism sector and to promote workshops for operators and tourist agents in the three countries. In the United Arab Emirates, participation in Arabian Travel Market, to take place between May 6th and 9th of next year, in Dubai, has already been confirmed.
According to Jeanine, in the Emirates, Brazil is going to promote Foz do Iguaçu, the Amazon, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Sites like Foz and the Amazon, with their natural resources, are exotic to the Arabs, stated the president at Embratur. And Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo are important destinations for purchases and business. Rio de Janeiro, as the main icon of Brazilian tourism, could not be left out of the destinations to be promoted, according to Jeanine. Married promotion between Brazil and Argentina was also motivated by the inauguration of the Emirates flight between São Paulo and Dubai, in the Emirates, in October.
According to the president at Embratur, it is already possible to notice an increase in the number of Arab arrivals in Brazil through the Emirates flight, despite official figures not yet being available. Jeanine stated that it is already known, for example, that the flight from Dubai also brings many Japanese and Koreans to Brazil. The flight is also a bridge between the Arab world and other destinations to which Emirates does not have direct flights, as is the case with Argentina. At the release of the São Paulo – Dubai flight, the director at Emirates Brazil, Ralf Aasman, stated, however, that the airline is also studying the establishment of a direct flight between the Emirates and Buenos Aires, the Argentine capital.
Brazil and Argentina already had informal cooperation, with the discussion of operation strategies. Now, however, the partnership has been formalized. Both countries, however, already operate together in Japan. Brazil and Argentina, as well as the remaining countries of the Mercosur, which also includes Uruguay and Paraguay, have a joint office for tourist promotion in Tokyo. It was opened two years ago in partnership with Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica). Starting next year, the Mercosur should manage the office alone, without Jica participation.
From the Middle East
Last year, Brazil received a total of 41,461 tourists from the Middle East. There has already been an increase in comparison with the previous year, when 35,138 people from the region visited the country. The state most visited was São Paulo (SE), with 23,084 people, followed by Rio de Janeiro (SE), which received 7,670 tourists from the Middle East. The two southeastern states were followed by Paraná (S), with 6,111 tourists and Mato Grosso do Sul (MW), with 1,830 visitors. The remaining travellers were divided among the other Brazilian states, mainly Bahia and Ceará (NE), Rio Grande do Sul (S) and Amazonas (N).
*Translated by Mark Ament
