Business and events tourism, encompassing fairs, congresses, and conventions, is a segment that is expanding throughout the world and is one of the items on the agenda of the IX Ibero-American Conference of Tourism Ministers and Entrepreneurs, which got underway today in Madrid, Spain.
The Brazilian Minister of Tourism, Walfrido dos Mares Guia, is one of the participants, together with 14 other ministers from countries such as Argentina, Cuba, Portugal, and Mexico.
Brazil is currently in 14th place among the world’s countries that attract the most events. Three years ago it ranked 21st.
To illustrate this statistic, Mares Guia gives as an example an Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) seminar that Brazil will host in March, in the city of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. The event is held every two years and, according to the Minister, is hotly disputed by countries all over the world.
"Seven thousand people will stay for a week and then travel around Brazil," he adds. Incentive trips, another promising segment, according to the Minister, will also be discussed. In this case, company employees are rewarded with trips for work they have performed.
ABr