Brasília – The depreciation of the Brazilian real as against the dollar, caused by the global economic crisis, should stimulate international tourism in the country, which becomes more accessible to foreign consumers. The estimate is by the president of the Brazilian Tourism Institute (Embratur), Jeanine Pires.
"What we noticed in the last quarter of 2008 and that remained in early 2009 was a very short run reaction in travels of South Americans to Brazil. Since December, we have observed a positive reaction among Argentinean, Uruguayan and Chilean travellers, tourism considered of medium distance," said Jeanine.
According to figures supplied by the Ministry of Tourism, in November, US$ 440 million entered the country economy due to expenses of foreigners. Between January and November 2008, the value reached US$ 5.253 billion, exceeding by US$ 300 million total revenues throughout 2007. The volume is 17.15% greater than that registered in the same period last year (US$ 4.484 billion).
Arrivals on international flights to Brazil between January and November registered the entry of 5,949,676 passengers. In the accumulated result up to November, there was growth of 3.83% over the same period last year.
Jeanine said that the main target is the attraction of revenues to the country, both by attracting a greater number of people to Brazil and by expanding their stay in the country and the volume they spend. International promotion began in September 2008 and should end in July 2010.
"In January, we started a great offensive proceeding with the international promotion work and analysing how the country is behaving according to its economic scenery," said the president at Embratur.
The growth of tourism has direct reflexes on the national economy. According to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), Brazil is growing in the world leadership in generation of jobs in the tourism area, and should rise from the fifth position in 2008 to the fourth in 2018.
"Investment in the tourism sector is much lower than in other sectors of the economy. Labour is abundant and investment is small. In the country there are over 6 million people employed in the sector, which hires from people ranging from the informal economy to people with university education," added Jeanine.
*Translated by Mark Ament