LUIZ SUGIMOTO

O Brazilian government wanted to know if the tourism sector is competitive, compared to other countries where this activity has an important weight in the economy. It is not. Our tourism is not competitive and is far from it, according to a study that has just been delivered to the Ministry of Tourism and which was coordinated by the Center for Industrial Economics and Technology (Neit), of the Unicamp Institute of Economics.

“In Brazil, tourism is still treated in an unprofessional way, seen as a recreational activity, and not as a sector of the economy that can generate great dividends in terms of employment and fundraising”, ponders professor Fernando Sarti, coordinator of the research project “Tourism in Brazil: general overview, assessment of competitiveness and public policy proposals”.

This is an unprecedented survey due to the fact that it evaluates tourism in an integrated way, pointing out the bottlenecks of a large network that includes, among many agents, operators and travel agencies, hotels, transport companies, technology information, the financial system, commerce and services, in addition to those responsible for ensuring infrastructure – roads, ports, airports, energy and basic sanitation.

“We distributed notes to each of the agents and we were also attentive to other dimensions, such as the social (remuneration, education and labor turnover), the environmental (thinking about the growth of tourism with sustainability) and the cultural (in order to that our heritage is not distorted through mass tourism)”, explains Fernando Sarti.

The study of more than 3 thousand pages was discussed in detail in workshops with representatives from the government, the private sector and workers in the tourism sector. It is not the only one, with other works commissioned to support public policies, such as from the University of Brasília (UnB), focused on international labor relations in tourism, and another dealing with industrial organization in this area.

Sarti notes that the Ministry of Tourism is only four years old and that by the middle of this year it will launch a second national tourism plan. “Before, we only had Embratur, which was basically responsible for promoting Brazil abroad. The Ministry is now going from a budget of R$300 million to R$1,5 billion, which indicates that tourism is already seen as a strategic activity”.

The GDP of the tourism sector in Brazil was estimated at US$17,4 billion in 2004, gaccounting for 2,55% of jobs and attracting 8,13% of investments. The global tourism industry, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), generated almost US$ 1,3 trillion in 2004, employing approximately 76 million people, and is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 3,2 % by 2016.

Competitiveness – To assess the competitiveness of Brazilian tourism, researchers compared its performance with that of 41 other countries. One parameter adopted was the average growth of 3,5% in world tourism, in the ten years between 1994 and 2004: above this average, the country's tourism was considered dynamic; below the index, not very dynamic. The second parameter was the importance of the activity within the countries' economy.

In the table published on this page, group 1 includes countries with dynamic tourism, which grows above average and has great weight in the economy. In group 2, the countries in which activity grew above average, but is still of little relevance to the economy. In group 3 are France and the United States, as examples of countries where tourism, as it is already very strong, has difficulty keeping up with global growth. And, in group 4, we find Brazil, where tourism has not reached the average and weighs little on GDP.

Group 1 includes Australia, Spain and Mexico, which received case studies from Neit researchers, at the request of the government. “The main common aspect in this group is that in all countries there is a very strong presence of foreign tourists. Of every 100 dollars spent on tourism, 41 dollars come from outside these countries”, informs Fernando Sarti.

According to the researcher, there is a tendency towards internationalization of tourism demand and Brazil still falls short of this process. While, on the world average, 20 dollars out of every 100 are spent by foreign tourists, here the proportion is 10 to 100. “In terms of the presence of foreigners, Brazil is the penultimate of the 42 countries analyzed, surpassing only Japan”.

No panacea – Fernando Sarti warns, however, that attracting foreign tourists does not serve as a panacea to allow the country to jump from the last to the first group. In his opinion, the immediate solution is not to try to internationalize demand, but rather to increase competitive capacity, strengthening the muscles of tourism that is 90% domestic.

“The chaos at airports shows that we have serious infrastructure problems. If this is the situation with the arrival of 5 million foreign tourists per year, imagine with 20 million”, observes the professor. He adds that the lack of infrastructure even prevents the internalization of domestic tourism, which is highly concentrated in the Southeast and South regions.

One of the problems highlighted by the Neit study is the financing of the sector, which basically depends on public resources, with very little investment from the private sector. “Furthermore, little demand is financed. Apart from paying for trips in installments, there are no other instruments in favor of the consumer, such as the possibility of using part of the FGTS or accumulating points on a credit card that would be used for this purpose”.

Information – Another bottleneck, in Fernando Sarti's analysis, is information technology, whose intensive use has been changing the position of agents in the tourism chain. “Before, tourists had to go to the agency and buy a closed package. Today there are websites that allow you to plan the itinerary you want, choose a bus or plane transfer, and buy theater tickets. The tourist puts together the package that interests him, without the intermediation costs”.

Even so, according to the researcher, Brazilian tourism is sold little on the Internet, which is now essential not only as a means of disseminating information, but also for conducting business. “It is common to go to hotel websites and find texts only in Portuguese. There is also a lack of connectivity, as tourists, when they arrive, do not receive information about tourist attractions, itineraries or bus and van services.”

Sarti informs that the government is aware of this problem and has already signed an agreement with the Spanish for a project aimed at increasing intelligence services and monitoring tourist activities. “In this regard, New Zealand has received all the awards, with websites that show off their service to tourists and also to those who offer tourism, explaining how to develop new attractions.”

Regulation – Fernando Sarti also finds it essential to implement a “tourism code”, defining the responsibilities of agents and inspection mechanisms. “Not even the issue of stars is regulated. National hotels do not follow international standards, fearing a lower rating. This affects credibility with foreign tourists who pay for a five-star hotel and find a three-star hotel.”

The job market is particularly worrying. Tourism employs around 6 million people in Brazil, but pays less than the average for other sectors, the level of education is lower and the seasonality of the activity results in high turnover. “Whoever is hired in the high season is not retained. Furthermore, a waiter trained by Senac finds it difficult to get involved because his salary is higher. There is a lack of professional training even for domestic tourism.”

Hopes on the horizon

Tourism in Brazil is not yet competitive, but it could be. The pessimistic picture, referring to the decade from 1994 to 2004, takes on bright colors when looked at from the perspective of the next ten years. The greatest expectation is that the Growth Acceleration Plan (PAC), announced by the Lula government, will satisfy the country's fans. “It is possible to imagine Brazil jumping to Group 1, of countries that have dynamic tourism that is relevant to the economy”, says Fernando Sarti.

The basic idea is to promote growth with investments mainly in infrastructure – roads, airports, ports, sanitation, telecommunications. “This would help tourism doubly. Firstly, because infrastructure represents one of the biggest bottlenecks in the activity. Secondly, because it will bring growth, generating a virtuous circle between income, credit and tourist activity, with an expansion of tourist demand and supply and jobs generated in the sector”, explains the Unicamp professor.

For now, tourism is still a luxury good. The Neit study shows that families with income above 10 minimum wages account for 75% of tourism spending in the country, and that both tourism supply and spending are very concentrated regionally. “Brazil depends 90% on domestic tourism and 80% of this market is in the South and Southeast. More than that, 72% of domestic tourists live and travel in these regions, in other words, people from São Paulo consume in their own state”.

Investments in infrastructure, according to Sarti, would contribute to internalizing tourist activity to regions such as the Amazon, the Pantanal and the Northeast. “If Brazil starts to grow 4% per year, as the government wants, tourism growth could far exceed WTTC's own forecast and reach 6%”, announces the professor.

Thus, once the muscles of domestic tourism were strengthened, the tourist offer could become internationalized, especially with more incisive action by agencies and operators and air transport abroad. It would be time to go get the foreign tourists.