Embratur: protests did not harm tourism.

Jorge Wamburg
Reporter from Agência Brasil

The popular protests that took place during the Confederations Cup did not harm foreign tourism in the country, and according to research conducted by Embratur with foreign tourists who came for the event, around 90% expressed a desire to return to Brazil for the 2014 World Cup.

The information comes from the president of the Brazilian Tourism Institute (Embratur), Flávio Dino, while participating, today (16), in the program Brasil em Pauta, coordinated and produced by the Secretariat of Social Communication of the Presidency of the Republic, in partnership with EBC Serviços. According to him, there is a trend of growth in foreign tourism in the country with a tendency to continue, according to the research carried out.

The Foundation Institute of Economic Research (Fipe) interviewed 14,000 people, including 10,000 Brazilian and foreign tourists in the vicinity of stadiums, hotels, public establishments, shops, and ticket collection points in the six host cities, and 4,000 foreign tourists at the airports of Belo Horizonte, Fortaleza, Brasília, Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, Recife, and Guarulhos International Airport in São Paulo. The consolidated data will be released in the coming weeks.

Initial estimates from the Ministry of Tourism regarding the circulation of domestic tourists during the Confederations Cup show that at least 230 Brazilians traveled to watch the games in the six host cities of the tournament. This result considered the number of tickets sold by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) and preliminary results from a Fipe survey on the profile of tourists attending Confederations Cup matches.

"The demonstrations should be seen as typical of a democratic country. Therefore, we shouldn't imagine that the presence of people in the streets could negatively impact tourism, especially since France and Spain, which are major recipients of international tourism, also face difficulties and demonstrations," said the president of Embratur.

According to Flávio Dino's assessment, the demonstrations received significant international media attention, which was monitored by Embratur, and it was found that "there was concern, however, there was no negative impact on travel. In other words, despite the demonstrations potentially causing concern in the international press, tourists continued to come."

He highlighted that the Confederations Cup generated R$ 740 million for the country through foreign tourism, with the presence of more than [number missing] foreigners and more than 100 Brazilians who traveled throughout the country during that period.

According to Flávio Dino, these figures show that "the country's strategic bet" on hosting the event is correct. He added that the Confederations Cup was successful in its organization. "We are certain that we will reach the target for foreign tourists in Brazil [for the World Cup] next year. The expectation is that we will receive 600 foreigners and that three million Brazilians will come together," said Dino.

He also commented on World Youth Day (WYD), which will be held this month in Rio de Janeiro, with the presence of Pope Francis. Dino highlighted that the event will boost the economy and have an impact on the Gross Domestic Product, the sum of all goods and services produced in the country.

Regarding Embratur's projects, he said that it is necessary to strengthen a competitive agenda so that the country can receive more tourists from abroad and reverse the situation of being an exporter of foreign exchange through tourism, which last year presented a deficit exceeding US$ 15 billion, with more people traveling from Brazil to other countries than the other way around. The idea is to take advantage of the World Cup for this and work with 18 priority markets, such as Russia and Canada, which send few tourists to Brazil.

Edited by: Marcos Chagas