Brazil wants to be third world tourism power by 2022
In an exclusive interview with the Minister of Tourism, Gastão Vieira said that the lack of infrastructure and tax policy are barriers to the development of tourism in the country, according to the World Economic Forum
by Mario Teixeira
Eu Ando pelo Mundo - How do you analyze tourism in our country?
Minister Gastão Vieira - Tourism is a vocation of Brazil, an anchor secured against external economic crises and a sector of the economy grew by 6% last year while the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has virtually stagnated. Moreover, it is one of the fastest and cheapest ways we have of generating employment and income to reduce regional inequalities and environmental sustainability. Brazil is considered the number 1 country in the world in natural resources for tourism. We need increasingly transforming our natural and cultural attractions in value added in the economy.
Eu Ando pelo Mundo - In overall numbers, which the increase of tourism in Brazil in the last decade?
Minister Gastão Vieira - Direct participation in the economy rose from US$ 24.3 billion in 2003 to US$ 76.9 billion in 2012, the number of domestic trips was 138.7 million in 2005 to 197 million in 2012, 2003 for 2012, the number of international arrivals has doubled and nearly tripled the national; funding from state banks for tourism jumped from US$ 1 billion in 2003 to US$ 11 billion in 2012, and the number of jobs in the formal characteristics of tourism activities rose from 1.72 million in 2003 to nearly 3 million in 2012.
Eu Ando pelo Mundo - In relation to GDP, which the participation of the tourism sector in the GDP of Brazil?
Minister Gastão Vieira - tourism accounts for 3.7% of the GDP, according to the latest data from the IBGE, which is 2007.
Eu Ando pelo Mundo - Although it is recognized internationally for its natural beauty and hospitality, which hinders the development of tourism?
Minister Gastão Vieira - According to Competitiveness Index Travel and Tourism 2013 World Economic Forum, which plays down the competitiveness of Brazil are the infrastructure and the business environment, especially tax policy. The government has taken concrete steps to tackle these two bottlenecks, as I explain below. Even with these problems, Brazil has risen in the rankings Economic Forum, ranking 51st place among 140 countries in tourism competitiveness. The attraction of foreign tourists comes up against, still, in exchange, that is a fact of reality against which we can not fight.
Eu Ando pelo Mundo - How to reverse the country's tourism underperforming?
Minister Gastão Vieira - We can not say that Brazil has a "low performance" tour, we are the sixth tourism GDP in the world and we have a very strong market, represented by a middle class that is half the population. The National Tourism Plan, which regulation came out today in the Official Gazette, outlines our goals for the coming years and details the actions we need to take to get where we want to go, we want to be the third power of the world tourism in 2022. For this, we need to solve bottlenecks business environment and stimulate domestic tourism - what we are doing through the program Travel More Golden Age (Viaja Mais, Melhor Idade), which will be released soon to the public to encourage seniors and retirees traveling in the low season. Similar programs are already being studied for workers and youth.
Eu Ando pelo Mundo - In addition to these actions that will automatically attract visitors to our country, as World Youth Journey, the Confederations Cup, World Cup and Olympic Games, what Brazil has done to reach the foreign tourist?
Minister Gastão Vieira - Embratur is responsible for the international promotion of Brazil. But we know that the company has been working greatly to enjoy the events as a factor of attraction, with the campaign Goal to Brazil.
Eu Ando pelo Mundo - Do you think these great events will help boost domestic tourism?
Minister Gastão Vieira - No doubt. Great events have the power to put in evidence the country abroad, working as promoters of our destinations. In addition, demand investments that are being made in port infrastructure, airport, road and urban mobility, which are bottlenecks to tourism. However, we can not lie down in the splendor hoping that tourists start to flood the country after the big event. We need to work hard before and after the World Cup to qualify our workforce tourist, our international promotion and our hosting sector. The hardest work of the Tourism Ministry begins the moment the final whistle of the World Cup.
Eu Ando pelo Mundo - At the time of President Lula he came to draft one integrated tourism project in South America. This came out of the paper? How is this project now?
Minister Gastão Vieira - There were negotiations in this regard within a working group formed within the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO), which however have not progressed satisfactorily for lack of involvement of the private sector. The structuring of tourism in the Amazon integration is strategic for Brazil, and we want to take the paving the Bioceanic road, a road of about 4000 kilometers linking the port of Santos to the ports of Arica and Iquique, Chile, through Bolivia.
Eu Ando pelo Mundo - Why is it cheaper travel to other countries than domestic tourism?
Minister Gastão Vieira - This is a dangerous generalization. Obviously depends on where you travel inside or outside. That said, there are some factors make Brazil an expensive country for tourists. One is the exchange rate, the valuation of the real against the U.S. dollar in recent years took part of our competitive prices. Another is our tax structure, companies pay a lot of taxes and taxes in the country, and this affects the competitiveness. We have taken important steps to mitigate this issue, with the inclusion of several characteristics of tourism activities in Greater Brazil Plan last year, which gave these sectors (hotels, airlines, road passenger transport) a discount on hundreds of millions of dollars a year by INSS. Our next step is to explore ways of returning to the tourist part of the expenditures made for services in Brazil. This possibility was opened by SISCOSERV, the system that allows the federal government to discriminate service expenditures.
