Brazilian tourism officials are hoping that, by hosting United Nations climate talks next year in the Amazon rainforest city of Belém that will focus on environmental sustainability and ending deforestation to slow global warming, the country can change its image as a destination merely for beach holidays.
The summit is expected to boost Brazil’s attractiveness as an eco-tourism destination and increase travel to its Amazon rainforest and other biomes that offer the world’s greatest biodiversity, Tourism Minister Celso Sabino said.
Only 9 per cent of current visitors to Brazil are ecotourists, while almost two out of every three are there for sun and beach, he says.
“Tourism is essential for the sustainability and preservation of forests, bringing needed economic development for the local inhabitants,” he says.
Drawing more environmental and adventure travellers is part of the government’s plan to increase overall tourism in Brazil, which is low in comparison with other countries. Tourism contributes less than 8 per cent of Brazil’s GDP, compared to more than 20 per cent in Spain, Portugal and the Dominican Republic, the minister says.
Sabino is working on expanding flights to Brazil and will be at the Seatrade Cruise Global fair in Miami, in the United States, next week to discuss increasing the number of cruise ship visits to Brazilian ports.
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All steps to raise foreign and domestic tourism will be welcomed by private businesses, which complain that the number of tourists remains stagnant and below the level before the pandemic.
“Brazil has a natural vocation for eco-tourism given its unique biodiversity. There is an enormous potential to be tapped,” says Marina Figueiredo, executive president of Braztoa, the Brazilian tour operators association.
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