Brazilian Tourism Eyes Indian Outbound Pie

Achal Dhruva - Rio De Janeiro

Ipanema Beach in Rio

Brazil is the latest entrant and the first South American country to capture the imagination of the Indian outbound market. The ministry of tourism, Brazil in conjunction with EMBRATUR (Brazilian Tourist Board) organised Caravana Brazil, a 10-day FAM trip for a select group of Indian Tour Operators and media to showcase the country’s diverse tourism products.

Famous for its Carnival, Amazon jungle, sun kissed beaches and craze for football, Brazil has a plethora of attractions like adventure tourism, golf tourism, ecotourism, beach tourism, heritage tourism and MICE (Meetings Incentives Conferences and Exhibitions) which are among the 11 tourism products promoted abroad by EMBRATUR. Caravana Brazil, the Brazil Incentive Tour Project was created in 2003 by EMBRATUR as the main instrument to promote and provide information about the varied tourism products of Brazil in the international market, present new products, services, destinations and consolidate the image of the country as a competitive tourist destination in the international market.

A resort in the Amazon region

According to Jurema Monteiro, manager of support for commercial issues, EMBRATUR, the aim of Caravana Brazil is to take national and international tour operators on FAM Trips to get a first hand insight of the tourism products and promote trade meetings between the international and local tour operators. In 2003 there were nine editions of Caravana Brazil, 19 in 2004 and 28 have been scheduled this year. “The number of international tourists that Brazil receives has been increasing every year. In 2002, we had 3.78 million tourists, in 2003 4.09 million and for 2004, we will have the accurate figures in the next quarter but our initial estimate is around 4.6 million. We believe that the jump in numbers is the result of Caravana Brazil,” informed Joao Goncalves, from the press office of ministry of tourism, Brazil.

When quizzed on what prompted the decision to tap the Indian market and how important it is for Brazil Jaoa said, “We believe that India could become a very big market. We know that Brazil is an exotic destination for Indian travellers and we are sure that they would be interested in visiting destinations like Foz do Iguacu (Iguacu Falls), the Amazon region, cities like Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and Sao Paolo. This is just for starters as there is whole treasure trove of exciting destinations and tourism products which Brazil has to offer,” stated Goncalves.

According to Goncalves, the decision to tap the Indian market stemmed from IBAS (India, Brazil and South Africa), an international agreement signed in 2003 by Brazil, India and South Africa to improve business between these countries. Elaborating further, Goncalves said, “In 2004, our minister of tourism, Walfrido dos Mares Guia, joined the presidential party of the President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, for an official visit to India. During the trip, the members of the Ministry of tourism met their Indian counterparts and members of the travel trade fraternity. After discussion both parties agreed upon improving tourism between the two countries. The February FAM Trip for Indian international tour operators was the first step to promote Brazil in the Indian market. But to really penetrate the Indian market we need to really create awareness about the country and its tourism products in many ways. We have plans to organise road shows, take part in tourism fairs and other events in India etc,” stated Goncalves.