91 For international tourists, Brazil is a modern and democratic country that is developing rapidly. A young, cheerful, welcoming nation on the rise not only in tourism but in highly competitive areas in the world, such as industry and technology. According to the Ministry of Tourism, this image is the result of hard work by EMBRATUR in recent years. “After the World Cup, satisfaction among international tourists was even clearer. In a survey conducted during the World Cup, about 85% of international tourists who came to Brazil said that the visit has exceeded or fully met their expectations. In addition, 95.3% of them said they intend to return. So, the conclusion is very simple: everything that was already known and thought about Brazil was tested and proven,” celebrates Lages. “Our Cup of Cups was praised unanimously, resulting in an undeniable gain to our image, which increases our responsibility to improve even in what are already great at,” he adds. He also thinks it important to emphasize that international tourists know why we remain a benchmark in beach tourism - “a natural vocation considering our 8,000 kilometers of coastline with at least 2,000 beaches” - but they have learned that Brazil goes far beyond that. “Here they find ecotourism (we have 69 national parks), business tourism (we rank ninth among countries that host international congresses and conventions), rural tourism, fishing tourism, sports tourism, cultural tourism, religious tourism, and so on down the list,” concludes Lages. The best image According to the Ministry of Tourism, international visitors have praised the country and said they intend to return With planning, when a trip is taken most of the costs have already been paid. The Minister explains: “I do not think that traveling abroad is not great, because traveling is always a unique, constructive and even a challenging experience. But there is a tendency to compare prices and quality, forgetting -If the main thing: we have the most original things here that are found nowhere else in the world. The Northeast is a tropical version of paradise itself; the North has some of the most amazing and exotic cuisine in the country; the South is bursting with history, culture, originality and traditions; the Southeast is an example o the best in Brazil, from samba to business; and the Center-West has rich are rare areas of conservation for flora and fauna. We cannot complain about diversity, for sure,” he says. He says that luxury is to know your own country. “I could list a lot of reasons why I think it is fun and authentic to travel around Brazil. There’s one more that I must mention - it is our identity that places us in the world. We need to show Brazilians that there is a whole world to visit within our country,” he concludes. Talking more about the prospects of tourism for this year, Lages says, “The federal government wants to boost tourism’s share in the economy, to improve the connections between air, sea, river and land travel; to form strategic cross-sector partnerships and to build closer relationships between the private sector and local governments.” Also parts of the plan are change to the investment model and the promotion of Brazil as a destination, a new look at education and skills in the sector, and the opening up of new markets and business.
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