Rio de Janeiro – In the next few weeks, the Brazilian federal government will announce the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC) for Tourism, according to the Tourism Ministry’s executive secretary Valdir Simão. A decree provides for R$ 680 million (US$ 312 mn) in investment for the refurbishment and construction of convention centres in locations other than Brasília, São Paulo and Rio. The purpose is to encourage business tourism and international events.
According to Simão, the industry is growing steadily. He notes that last year, the 80 leading segments in the tourism industry saw revenues increase by 13.1% as against the preceding year. The segment whose revenues grew the most was event organization (23.2%), followed by travel agencies (21.9%) and fair promotion (14.9%).
The results reflect the lowering of power bills and the tax breaks, which, according to the ministry, accounted for the maintenance of 5,000 job positions at low season, said the secretary at a press conference on the impact of tourism mega-events, in Rio.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
