São Paulo – The Brazilian Tourism Institute (Embratur) is participating in the Emirates Holiday World fair, in Dubai, from Friday until Sunday (1st). The event will be attended by visitors and tourism professionals from Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. During the three days of the fair, the institute will promote tourism in Brazil among travel agents, focusing on the city of Rio de Janeiro, first and foremost, but also in São Paulo and Foz do Iguaçu.
"Rio will be the central destination because of the Olympic Games and the World Cup, but also because Emirates [Airline] has announced that it will offer more flights to the city," explains Marcelo Pedroso, the director of International Markets at Embratur. Daily flights from Dubai to the capital of Rio should start on January 3rd, 2012, as previously announced by ANBA. Emirates Holiday, the event’s promoter, is the tour operator of the Emirates-based airline.
Embratur’s actions at the fair will include lectures to 500 travel agents and the screening of promotional videos about Brazil. Marco Antônio Lomanto, the director of Products and Destinations, is the person in charge of Embratur’s participation in the event. In between the lectures, the institute will count on the presence of a football player in its stand for demonstrations of ball juggling.
"The market of the Emirates is a strategic one [for Brazil]. That entire region is strategic, because it serves as a hub," says Pedroso. "It is a point of concentration, of arrival and exit for Middle Eastern and Asian passengers, both of which are regions whose trade flow with Brazil is increasing," he claims.
According to Pedroso, it is not possible to precise a figure as to how many Arab tourists should visit Brazil each year as a result of the Emirates Airline’s new route, but he believes the flights to Rio should bring in more visitors from the Middle East and Asia. "The region is gaining capillarity and connectivity, which in turn makes it possible to increase the number of Arabs and Asians, as a result of the increased business flow," explains the director.
Pedroso also informs that in the second half this year, Embratur will open an office, in a yet-to-be-defined Asian country, that which will also operate in the Arab countries. According to the director, Embratur has attended the Emirates Holiday World for the last four years, and should also promote tourism promotion actions in countries such as Turkey and China.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
