Alexandre Rocha
São Paulo – The Brazilian minister of Tourism, Walfrido Mares Guia, believes that the number of Lebanese tourists travelling to Brazil should grow 10 times starting next year due to the creation of the flight between São Paulo and Beirut, fruit of a partnership between Brazilian airline TAM and Lebanese Middle East Airlines (MEA), and the simplification of visa application for Lebanese tourists determined by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
"The number of Lebanese tourists who visit Brazil is between 2,000 and 3,000 a year. I believe that the number may rise to between 20,000 and 30,000," stated the minister by telephone to ANBA. He participated yesterday (16) in a ceremony for release of the flight in the Lebanese capital. The shared operation between both companies will begin today (17). TAM will be responsible for the stretch between São Paulo and Paris, and MEA will fly the stretch between the French and Lebanese capitals.
The minister, Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (CCAB) president Paulo Sérgio Atallah, and other authorities and Brazilian businessmen met Lebanese president Émile Lahoud for 40 minutes yesterday morning, when the Lebanese president showed his satisfaction with the creation of the flight. At the occasion, Mares Guia delivered a letter from president Lula in which he informed his requested for simplification of the process for visa issue to Lebanese citizens.
According to Atallah and Mares Guia, the issue of a visa for entry into Brazil takes one month or more. With this decision, the period should not exceed four days. "President Lahoud was very pleased with this decision by the Brazilian government," stated the CCAB president. "The number of visas issued this year was very small, reaching a total of only 600. Starting tomorrow (today) the process will be greatly simplified," added Mares Guia.
Facilities
Both pointed out the facilities to be created with the partnership between TAM and MEA. Now it will be possible to fly from Brazilian cities reached by TAM to Beirut, with stops, but buying just one ticket. In the same manner, it will be possible to fly to Brazil from any point in the Middle East serviced by MEA with the purchase of just one ticket.
Apart from that, the trip is going to become much more economical. According to Mares Guia, before creation of this flight, it cost around US$ 1,500 to purchase a ticket from São Paulo to Paris and then another from Paris to Beirut. Now the price of a ticket for the entire stretch will start at US$ 1.050. "The two largest advantages of the partnership are simplification of the flight from one country to the other, and economy," stated Atallah.
"With this, special conditions have been created for the development of tourism, of business trips, and of trips to visit relatives," added Mares Guia, recalling that the Arab community living in Brazil is around 10 million, most being Syrian and Lebanese descendants.
Now that these conditions have been created, the minister stated that it is necessary to promote tourism between both countries. Yesterday the president of the Brazilian Tourism Institute (Embratur), Eduardo Sanovicz, who is also on the Brazilian delegation in Beirut, met eight Lebanese businessmen from large companies in the sector.
The idea, according to Mares Guia, was to establish a calendar of events, including fairs and promotional tours, and meetings between businessmen so as to increase the travel flow, as well as offering tourist packages. The minister added that for groups of tourists visiting the country, the price could drop even more, to around US$ 800.
"This is the part currently played by the Embratur; Brazilian promotion on the foreign market. Our target is to attract at least 9 million tourists to Brazil up to 2007. This year the forecast is to receive five million," he declared.
Summit
At the meeting, Lahoud also "showed satisfaction" in informing the Brazilian delegation that in the last League of Arab States summit, which took place in Tunis in May, the organization of an Arab and South American summit in April next year was unanimously agreed on. The meeting was the idea of Brazilian president Lula.
Yesterday night the CCAB promoted a dinner in Beirut to celebrate the start of the flight. The dinner included 150 people, including Lebanese authorities and businessmen. The Lebanese minister of Tourism, Ali Abdullah, represented president Lahoud and the minister of Transportation, Nagib Mikati, represented prime minister Rafik Hariri.
