Brasília – This Thursday (5th), two years and five months short of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the Brazilian Ministry of Tourism issued a preliminary study suggesting 184 destinations for the tourists who will come to Brazil to watch the matches. The intention is to encourage Brazilian and foreign visitors alike to get to know the country without moving far from the 12 host cities.
The chosen sites are within a 300-kilometre radius of the host cities, at a maximum traveling time of 3 hours by land and 2 hours by air.
The Ministry of Tourism calculates that approximately 600,000 foreigners and 3 million Brazilians will travel around the country during the months of the 2014 World Cup – June and July. There will be an approximate total of 7.8 million domestic trips during the period.
To organize the 184 destinations recommended to the tourists, the government intends to invest in campaigns and partnership agreements in order to promote the locations selected. The effort should receive 151 million reals (US$ 82 million) worth of investment. Meanwhile, the Brazilian Tourism Institute (Embratur) is attempting to raise another 139 million reals (US$ 75.7 million) for promoting Brazilian tourism in foreign countries.
The Tourism Structuring, Articulation and Ordering director at the Ministry of Tourism, Ricardo Moesch, told Agência Brasil that the routes involving the 184 destinations was based on surveys of tourist preferences and desires.
“These 184 comprise 94 routes that had been presented last year, and then we chose 65 destinations that were deemed as priorities by both foreign and Brazilian tourists. That, however, does not prevent us from adding other alternatives,” said the director.
Moesch added that tourism may be boosted through increasing chartered and commercial flights. According to him, there still are problems, but they will probably be overcome. “[Unfortunately] we may have good destinations, but we are not prepared enough to receive these tourists,” he said.
He believes there will be a higher number of flights to the destinations suggested by the government. “There is likely going to be an increase in the flow of flights to these [184] destinations, hence we will have chartered flights. For instance, in the flight from Fortaleza to Maranhão, due to [strong tourist flow to the region of] Lençóis Maranhenses, we may use regular flights, at 2-hour long flights.”
The survey based on which the 184 tourist spots were selected was conducted by the Ministry of Tourism in partnership with the Embratur and the secretariats for Tourism of the states involved, aiming to increase tourist flow and income and job generation during the event, according to the ministry and Embratur press offices.
The survey is a preliminary one and other suggestions and recommendations may still be added. Completion is expected by the end of the current year. “We started working on this in November last year and the routes will be presented, in partnership with tourism companies, and then with will have a few other steps before we achieve completion,” said Moesch.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
