Portugal’s tourism board has announced plans to spend “around €1.2 million” promoting Portugal in Brazil next year – a 20% increase compared to this year.
“Brazil is an important market, which is why our idea is to strengthen our investment in order to not be affected so much by the devaluation of the real (Brazilian currency) and attract tourists with competitive destinations,” Luís Matoso, member of the Turismo de Portugal board, told Lusa news agency.
The money will go towards the usual tourist-wooing initiatives, including ads in the media and taking part in promotional fairs.
According to data from the tourism board, Brazilians are the fifth most common tourists in Portugal. In 2014, around 581,000 Brazilian tourists visited Portugal, and in the first half of this year the country has already welcomed around 274,000.
Matoso admits, however, that the tendency may be for the number of Brazilian tourists to drop, due to the current “economic situation” in Brazil. “We are close to Brazil in the good and bad times. The current situation is cyclical, transitory,” he told journalists at the 43rd ABAV – an international tourism fair held annually in São Paulo.
Despite the hardships Brazil is facing, Matoso believes the country is still filled with opportunities to attract tourists from “places far from the big cities, as well as tourists who don’t speak other languages” and can be attracted by the idea of visiting Portugal.
Ricardo Ferreira from Osíris Travel agreed, explaining that he adapted the travel agency’s offer with “lesser known destinations at more competitive prices”.
However, the Vila Galé hotel group – which owns seven resorts in Brazil and is building another – believes it will benefit from the devalued real as it can attract “more foreign tourists as well as Brazilians who cancel trips abroad”.
