Giuliana Napolitano
São Paulo – After dropping for two consecutive years, the number of foreign tourists in Brazil has returned to rising. According to the official Brazilian Tourism Agency (Embratur), the country received 4.09 million international visitors last year, an 8.12% increase with regard to 2002.
The figure is a little below the target established by the government – which was 4.3 million foreigners -, but, according to the Embratur study and research director, José Francisco de Salles Lopes, the result is within the "expected range." Apart from that, he added, Brazilian tourism has been rising, while the world average has been dropping.
Figures supplied by the World Tourism Organization (WTO) show that the global flow of foreign tourists dropped 1.2% in 2003, to 694 million people. To the organization, this retraction is due to a "considerably difficult" year, worsened by three factors: the war in Iraq, the Sars epidemic, and a "persistent weak economic situation."
In Brazil, the government is undertaking "image work" to guarantee these positive figures, believes Lopes. He recalled that the Embratur participated in international trips by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – such as the visit to the Arab countries, in December. He also stated that the tourism offices in Europe and the United States have been enlarged. "All this work began at the end of the year, in the third quarter, as at the beginning the work was on creating a strategy," he explained.
Golf
"New tourist products," to be released this year, have also been developed, anticipated the director. The idea is to promote the country as a destination for ecotourism, and adventure, and luxury tourism. One of the proposals is to "insert Brazil in the international golf circuit," stated Lopes. "We are negotiating with the Brazilian Golf Confederation. One advantage is that this tourist spends more than most visitors."
Another Embratur front is business tourism. A department was created to take care of this area alone, and the objective for 2004 is to place the country in 38 international events – last year it was present in 15, informed Lopes. With these actions, the Embratur intends to reach 4.9 million foreign tourists by December. This figure is part of an ample target released by the government at the beginning of 2003: aiming at reaching 9 million visitors up to 2007.
Argentina
Another factor that helped increase this figure was recovery in Argentina. Between 2001 and 2003, entry of tourists from the neighbouring country dropped to almost half, from 1.37 million to 697,000. The Embratur does not yet have the final figures for 2003, divided into countries, but institute president Eduardo Sanovicz informed newspaper O Globo, as printed in an article yesterday (15), that "the situation is improving."
This was also one of the causes for recovery of South America on the world scenery. International tourist flow to the region rose 13.5% last year, after two years of retraction, according to the WTO. To the organization, Brazil and Argentina contributed to this increase.
"(It) was boosted by an improvement in the economies of large South American countries, such as Brazil and Argentina," informed a statement by the organization at the end of January.
Despite the drop, Argentina is still the country that sends most tourists to Brazil, according to the Embratur figures. The South American country is followed by the United States and Germany, informed Lopes. In 2002, Brazil received 636,000 US visitors and 297,000 Germans.
Even with the growth registered last year, foreign tourist flow to Brazil is still low. In 2000, the country received 5.3 million tourists.
