Brazil Unveils New Tourist Trademark

Brazil took advantage of this year’s International Tourism Fair in Berlin to promote its new tourist trademark, a motley logo that carries the blue of the sea, the yellow of the sun disc and beaches, the green of the forests and jungles, the white of its religious syncretism, and the red of the popular festivities.

Tourism Minister Walfrido dos Mares Guia, who headed his country’s delegation to ITB 2005 in Germany, told news media there Brazil hopes to snare 5.8 million foreign visitors this year, up 20 percent from 2004. In the case of domestic travelers, that figure could rise to 8 million vacationers in 2005 .

“As far as new investments are concerned, foreign companies and local firms have already peaked $1 billion this year,” Mr. Mares Guia went on to say.

The administration of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has set out to create a quarter of a million new jobs in 2005, and in that sense tourism has a major role to play.

Last year, Brazil’s travel industry shot up 20 percent in terms of tourist arrivals, including a much bigger inflow of trekkers from neighboring nations.

“We jumped from 4 million to 4.8 million sunbathers in 2004. The development of domestic tourism, for its part, grew 19 percent last year,” he concluded.