With a focus on qualifying favela residents and motorcycle taxi drivers as tourist drivers, the Na Favela Turismo platform and the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae) trained this Wednesday (5) 100 new professionals to work in communities in the south zone of Rio. The communities served are Rocinha, Cantagalo, Pavão-Pavãozinho and Vidigal. 
The project also has support from the Rio State Department of Tourism and seeks to strengthen the sector through community-based tourism. To meet the demands of the sector and bring protagonism and autonomy to residents, a training course for local drivers was designed, on the following topics:
- inbound and community-based tourism;
- how to improve tourist service (hospitality);
- how to regularize (MEI and Cadastur), finances and digital marketing for guides.
The creator of the Na Favela Turismo platform, Renan Monteiro, believes that qualified tourist drivers bring benefits to the entire tourism chain.
“When tourists receive a better product, they recommend more people to visit us, and thus, our demand increases and we are able to increasingly impact our favelas”, points out Renan Monteiro.
Qualification
One of the new qualified professionals is motorcycle taxi driver Jonathan Lima de Brito, who tells how his experience on two wheels led him to learn about the project and train as a tour guide. But the path was not easy.
“When I was younger, I did wrong things, I paid for it and tried to redeem myself. I started with a rented motorbike, saved money to buy another, got my license and today I’m looking to progress.”
He dreams of opening his own business, offering guided tours with motorcycles, and also learning other languages.
“They showed me the first meeting, I liked it and saw that it was a good thing. That many doors would open for us”, he adds.
*Intern under the supervision of journalist Gilberto Costa
