Tourism to Create More Jobs in Brazil

The leisure industry will surely be a major source of jobs for Brazilians, said Tourism Minister Walfrido dos Mares, whose department is estimating growth numbers in the neighborhood of 7 to 8 percent and announcing the creation of 180,000 to 220,000 new jobs this year alone.

Speaking about the travel industry in a Sao Paolo forum, Mr. Mares pointed out that one of the goals of the National Plan for the sector is the creation of 1.2 million new jobs by 2007, the same year that the country expects to welcome 9 million sunbathers compared to 4.1 million that Brazil came in for in 2003.

For Brazil´s Tourism Minister, the hardest part of the bid is to increase the flow of national air travelers from 33 million to 65 million fliers by making more luring flight offers aboard chartered aircraft and by putting faster commuting means on the roads.

As far as the number of foreign trippers is concerned, Mr. Mares noted his country is zeroing in on South Americans, a segment that accounts for roughly a third of the market. In his opinion, Brazil needs to jack up that portion by 50 percent if it really wants to crack the nine-million-tourist plateau by the end of 2007.