São Paulo – Rula Maayaa Albandak, Palestine’s minister of Tourism, will be in Brazil from September 23 to 27th for meetings with businessmen and Brazilian authorities from the sector.
“She will be at the opening of Palestine’s stand at the Abav (The Brazilian Travel Agencies Association) fair. We’ve been attending this fair for 15 years already”, said Ibrahim Alzeben, Palestine’s ambassador in Brasília and dean of the Council of Arab Ambassadors in Brazil about the fair scheduled to September 24 to 27th in the city of São Paulo.
According to Alzeben, a meeting between Albandak and the Brazilian minister of Tourism, Henrique Eduardo Alves, is scheduled for the day of the event’s inauguration. “Brazil has a memorandum of understanding with Palestine on tourism that was signed in 2010. She should revive the agreement”, said Alzeben about the topic to be discussed in the meeting between the two ministers.
Also on the 24th, Albandak will take part in a business lunch promoted by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce with Michel Tuma Ness, president of the Brazilian National Federation of Tourism (Fenactur), Magda Nassar, president of the Brazilian Tour Operators Association (Braztoa), and Antônio João Monteiro de Azevedo, Abav’s president. Later on the day, the minister will visit the Arab Chamber’s headquarters.
“She’s coming to promote the Holy Land, especially Bethlehem”, said Alzeben about the goals of the minister in Brazil. According to him, in the meetings, besides Bethlehem, Albandak will also cite other important tourist destinations in Palestine, such as Jerusalem and the Jordan River.
On the other hand, Alzeben points out that Brazil also has attractive spots for Palestinian tourists. “Brazil has interesting places from Amazonas to Rio Grande do Sul”, he said. The diplomat also says that Albandak was invited to visit the city of Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná state, where she should meet with the state’s secretary of Tourism, Douglas Fabrício, and with Foz do Iguaçu’s mayor Reni Pereira.
“This visit is very important. It’s been quite some time since we welcomed a minister of Tourism from Palestine”, said Alzeben. “We are hopeful that we will promote tourism and its new horizons in both countries”, said the ambassador.
Abav’s fair will have two stands from Arab governments, one from the Palestine government and one from Morocco’s official tourism body. Operators from the region such as Near East Tourism Agency, from Palestine, North Tours, from the United Arab Emirates, and Exotic Tours & Travel, from Egypt, will also be in attendance.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
