New worlds: Brazil's tourism board hopes new offices abroad will double visitors to Brazil

Latin Trade, May, 2005 by Renata Ramalho

The objective is clear: In 2007, Brazil should welcome 9 million foreign tourists spending US$8 billion, more than double the numbers reported in 2003.

To hit its goal, Embratur, Brazil's tourism board, has opened eight offices abroad. Known as Escritorios Brasileiros de Turismo (EBT) and located in the United States and Europe, the tourism ministry expects these offices to strike deals with tour operators and tailor products to travelers from the targeted regions.

In Europe, the government opened six offices to bring tourists to Brazil, in Germany, Spain, France, England, Italy and Portugal. Although most Europeans who visit Brazil come from Germany--more than 300,000 came in 2002--the EBT in Portugal will coordinate European operations. "It was my personal choice" says Vera Sanches, director of the EBT in Lisbon. "There is cultural identity with professional vision, and Portuguese investment in Brazil has been very big."

The Lisbon office, the first to be inaugurated, is already reporting results, Sanches says. The flow of Portuguese tourists to Brazil is expected to grow 20% annually, although the real figure should top that percentage. New destinations are being studied. "One operator is selling golf packages," says Sanches. Companies offering trips as performance incentives to employees also are adding Brazil to their list of destinations, she says.
 

But more destinations are needed. European countries with EBT offices sent tourists mainly to Rio de Janeiro and Silo Paulo and to resort areas in the tropical northeast. Few went to northern or southern Brazil, except for Igaucu Falls in the south. "Never has the north been promoted and nor have the beaches of Santa Catarina," says Sanches, referring to the southern state of Santa Catarina. That trend appears to be changing. In 2004, the Portuguese Association of Travel Agencies and Tourism held a conference in Florianopolis, in southern Brazil, to promote lesser-known stops.

While the need for tourism offices abroad seems clear, Mario Bruni, general director of Brazilian airline Varig, says it's difficult to gauge how much they have contributed to travel growth for the airline. "This was already under way before opening the EBTs," Bruni says. The Sept. 11 attacks, for instance, changed the industry; putting Brazil higher up on the world's list of travel destinations. "Brazil is in style," Bruni says.

Brazil needs to form more partnerships with Portugal, Bruni says. In 2004, Lisbon hosted the Mundo Mix fashion show as well as the Quinzena Brazileira, a two-week promotion held in the El Corte Ingles shopping mall, which included Brazilian food and drawings to win trips to Brazil. The travel promotion office also took the largest stand at the tourism exposition Bolsa de Turismo de Lisboa (BTL). Tasso Gadzanis, president of the Brazilian Travel Agencies Association, says the travel industry is taking advantage of this heightened profile for the first time. "In the past, it didn't make sense to participate in the BTL only to spend the rest of the year not following through with support work or marketing," Gadzanis says.

State governments are even working with the EBT offices. Yet Eduardo Pinto Lopes, a vice president with the Portuguese travel association and general director of tour operator TerraBrasil, says people need to see more of a variety of what Brazil can offer. "Today, the product we offer is the same-old same-old," he says.

Luiz Mor, vice president of Portuguese airline Tap, says flights have been full. "We have been growing within the country, but with the EBTs we are feeling good about stepping on the accelerator," Mor says. "We have opened three new, weekly flights to Natal, and we are going to open more next year in addition to those flying daily to Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo."

The carrier also hosts monthly sales and training events in Portugal to attract more operators to sell new destinations and products. "The impact not necessarily be immediate," Mor says. "We still haven't gotten to where we need to be, but I believe we will get there." The company offers 35 weekly flights to seven cities--four of which are in the northeast--and it is estimated that in 2004 the number of passengers flying Tap to Brazil will hit 650,000.

One-man show. The offices should do more public relations, some say. "There is still information missing that needs to be released," says Mor. Embratur disagrees and says that the problem has not been one of money of information but about the poor use of materials. Brochures, for instance, were prepared by a marketing department at a government agency for specific, narrow markets.

The offices are small, normally consisting of an executive and two clerks in Lisbon and a sole director in the other agencies. The Portuguese setup, however, is considered ideal. "When we step out to provide help, there is nobody left in the office," says Geraldo Peccin, director of the EBT in Milan.