Q & A with Eduardo SalovicPresident of Brazil´s EMBRATUR Co.

by Jose Carlos de Santiago

Brazil scooped up 5.6 million tourists in 2005, twice as many as the country came in for back in 2002. Now the South American nation has realized the enormous potentials of the European market, both in terms of investment and as an outbound market. The President of EMBRATUR, Brazil´s leading tourism company, talked extensively about these issues in an exclusive interview with Caribbean News Digital.

Q.- What´s the current position of EMBRATUR in the world market and what major achievements it garnered in 2005?

A.- EMBRATUR is Brazil´s number-one company in the field of tourism promotion overseas. We handle a major budget to be used in promotion in some 18 markets from Latin America, Europe, Asia and the United States. The company tackles these markets from three different perspectives: promotional actions within fairs and tradeshows; marketing-oriented actions, like caravans and seminars across Brazil, and marketing actions as such, a field EMBRATUR has dealt with extensively over the past three years. At the same time, EMBRATUR has had a hands-on attitude in a number of online means and PR actions by changing the tradition way of doing promotion.

We must now begin to gauge our results and I should say that we wound up welcoming 5.6 million visitors in 2005, way over the 3.7 million tourists that visited the country in 2002. According to stats released by the Central Bank of Brazil, in 2002 those 3.7 million tourists shelled out $1.8 billion, while this time around that figure jumped to a whopping $4 billion.

Q.- You company is opening offices in Europe. You´re already operating in Portugal. Are you planning to make that European office a center of operations in Europe?

A.- No. Portugal has coordinated the opening of the other offices, depending on the economic features of each and every destination, as well as their airlift volumes. As we speak, we´ve got offices in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, the UK and Germany. We´ve also opened an office in New York, another one in Latin America and a joint promotion bureau in Tokyo.

Q.- Is this opening to new markets in any way linked to the administration of President Lula da Silva´s personal efforts?

A.- Of course. It was President Lula´s decision to create the Ministry of Tourism. We´d never had one ministry fully devoted to the advance of tourism in the country because we´d never before heeded tourism as a major economic powerhouse.

On January 2, 2003, President Lula founded the Ministry of Tourism and Mario Guia has been our Minister ever since. He and his team of experts are involved in the policymaking of travel and tourism nationwide. President Lula also created a couple of entities, the National Tourism Policy Department and the Tourism Development Department. The former deals with the policymaking, while the latter has to do with infrastructure, historic centers, roads, airports and the renovation of hotels.

Q.- There´s one question in the minds of all tour operators and people who consider EMBRATUR as a key player in the promotion of Brazilian tourism overseas. Is the government steadfastly involved in this effort? Is there at least a five-year plan in place for the evolution of EMBRATUR in the European markets?

A.- The National Tourism Plan has been devised by President Lula himself and embraces all markets and the entire Brazilian society. The plan contains a number of actions to be carried out between 2003 and 2007. In a word, we´re planning to snare nine million visitors in 2007 and rake in as many as $8 billion worth of revenues by that same year. In the same breath, there are plans in place to capture some 45 million domestic tourists and launch three new products for as many states and provinces there are in country. And there´re 27 such territories in Brazil.

Q.- As to new investments in hotels and other products, where are they mostly coming from?

A.- Mostly from Europe, especially from Portugal and Spain, but also from Germany and the UK. I´ve got a few figures that were handed over to me a couple of weeks ago, and to the best of my knowledge, the Brazilian Tourism Ministry closed with a total volume of $1.5 billion in investment in 2005.

Q.- Spanish hoteliers have landed in Brazil with might and main. Are you aware of what specific chains are doing business and what others are willing to tap into the country?

A.- Fortunately, I am. The fact of the matter is that I feel great passion for Spain and everybody knows that. I lived in Spain, in Barcelona and part of my professional career shaped up there. Groups like NH Hotels, Meliá and other companies are investing heavily in Brazil. There are also authorized flights operated by Air Europa and Air Madrid, so the Spanish capital is also welcomed with open arms.