Brazil’s Ministry of Tourism has plans to expand the regional air grid and improve airports and the hotel network in Brazilian Northeast. With projects in the area of infrastructure, the country plans to provide better services to the tourists who should come to the country for the 2014 World Cup matches and for the 2016 Olympics.
Commenting on the matter, in a television interview on February 19, on radio program Bom Dia, Ministro, the minister of Tourism, Luiz Barretto, said that the Ministry of Defense has specific projects for regional aviation and has been discussing the matter with the nine governors of states of the Northeast.
Among the proposals under discussion, according to Barreto, is the reduction of the value added state tax (ICMS) for regional aviation. “This should assist the creation of regional aviation capable of moving the main centers. Ceará has been doing its homework, with the expansion of regional airports.”
The entrance into a consumer market of 20 million people, in recent years, according to him, has boosted tourism in the country, so the ministry is working on establishing a “travel culture”. Competition among airlines results in lower ticket prices and becomes “one less bottleneck to be faced”.
Barretto mentions the case of Piauí, to be added to international nautical routes, with airports being inaugurated in Parnaíba (on the coastal region of the state) and in São Raimundo Nonato. The expansion of the port and construction of a marina in Luis Correia, also in the state, are other local priorities, according to him.
The ministry pointed out the need to work to attract the attention of around 1 million Argentine tourists who visit Brazil each year. “We hope they will also visit the Northeast, where they may find diversity that is non-existent in the South, which is currently the preferred route.”
