São Paulo – The Brazilian minister of Tourism, Pedro Novais, said last week that tourism should account for 6% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2020. Currently, the share is 3.6%. According to him, the industry will grow in the country as productivity and quality increases.
The minister spoke during the 1st International Workshop on Certification for Tourism, in the city of Foz do Iguaçu, in the state of Paraná. The fact that 30 million Brazilians have become part of the lower middle class should also impact on tourist activity in coming years. He highlighted that both the public sector and the private initiative are focusing on improving services to tourists.
The secretary for Tourism of the state of Paraná, Faisal Saleh, claimed that one of the needs of Brazilian tourism is human resource development. “This is a pre-requisite without which it is very difficult to think about certification and a large-scale transformation of the industry.”
The first edition of the international workshop brought together representatives of Mercosur member countries at the 6th Tourism Festival of the Iguaçu Falls. The exchange of experiences in tourism improvement and certification is part of the “Turismo 100%” (100% Tourism) project, promoted by the Ministry of Tourism in partnership with the Brazilian Institute for Quality and Productivity (IBQP) and the National Institute of Metrology, Standardization and Industrial Quality (Inmetro).
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
