The president of the Brazilian Agency for International Tourism Promotion (Embratur), Marcelo Freixo, said this Tuesday (14th) that the sector will focus on environmental sustainability to strengthen the country’s presence in the world tourism market. 
“Nobody wants to visit a country that destroys its forests. People will visit Brazil that preserves its forests, which is climate responsible. I have no doubt that tourism is a great solution for the preservation of the Amazon Forest”, he said during a press conference. for the relaunch of Marca Brasil.
The use of the old logo, used between 2005 and 2019, inaugurates the new strategy for repositioning the country’s image.
“The brand does not belong to the government. Spain has had the same brand for decades. It is a message that Brazil is giving, not one government or another,” he said. The brand that had been used in the last four years used the name of the country in English and even had a motto that was considered as an association of tourism with sexual exploitation (“Brazil, visit and love us”, which means Brazil, visit and love us).
The idea ended up being criticized for the possible association of tourism with sexual exploitation.
“Brazil is not like Z and ‘visit and love us’, we don’t want any hidden and unwanted message. Also because visiting a Brazil that destroys forests and burns, nobody will love us like that”, said Freixo.
Alternative
Freixo said that tourism represents 8% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and that this impact could be even greater. He highlighted that in areas of socio-environmental conflict, such as the one faced by the presence of illegal mining in the Yanomami indigenous territory, in Roraima, tourism can be an alternative for a sustainable and inclusive activity.
“When we watch what is happening with the Yanomami, perhaps tourism is one of the important alternatives for that region, which generates jobs and generates income. It is 8% of the Brazilian GDP today and we want it to be much more. power to be much more”, he said.
Also present at the brand relaunch ceremony, the president of the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil), Jorge Viana, said that it is not possible to detach the country’s image from its role in preserving and promoting the environment on a global scale .
“There is no way to attract tourists, stimulate domestic tourism in the country, if the country’s trademark is the destruction of the forest, it is a threat induced to the original populations, to the indigenous peoples, to the frontal attack on what we have in terms of comparative advantage in the world”, he argued . “Brazil was completely against the grain, but now I understand that there is a reunion of Brazil with itself”.
reliable data
Marcelo Freixo also said that he is assembling a team at Embratur to work in the area of tourism intelligence and produce reliable data on the foreign presence in the country, since, according to him, “there is no public policy if there is no quality of information”.
“We even want the press to be able to feed on information about tourism at Embratur, but we need to have qualified production of information”, he pointed out.
