Specialists look to plug ‘next big thing’

Brazil by Steve Collins

Specialists look to plug ‘next big thing’

Country sees rise in fully inclusive bookings

True colours: specialist tours offer visitors the chance to experience the real culture of Brazil

With a month to go before Airtours begins its ambitious plan to send 8,000 people to Brazil by the end of October, specialist tour operators have noticed a surge in interest in the country.

Latin America Travel managing director Jorge Mendes said: “Brazil is ahead in terms of bookings. There’s a feeling Brazil’s time has come, that it’s the next big destination.”

In the past, Brazil tended to be a harder product to sell, especially on a group tour basis.

Cox and Kings product manager Lucy Nicholson said: “We had to drop our group tour of Brazil but the country does very well as a fully inclusive tours destination.”

But now interest is peaking due in part, say specialists, to mass-market operators having teething problems with their products.

Specialists also point to the hard work done by Embratur, the Brazilian Tourist Office in London, in raising Brazil’s profile here. Next week the office celebrates a year in operation.

Director Chris Pickard said: “There’s immense interest in Brazil and Embratur is here to stay. But we need to work on getting rid of the clichés. Brazil isn’t just samba, football and Rio. People don’t really understand what a major event the Carnival is.”

Attending consumer exhibitions such as Destinations, which Embratur did for the first time this year, helps to spread the message.

Until now the tourist office has not advertised but a campaign is due to kick off this spring, starting with adverts on London taxis. This will be followed by a series of adverts in the consumer and trade press.

In the meantime, Unijet product manager long haul Brian Booker has admitted his company’s passenger plan of 7,000 was too ambitious for the first year.

Unijet has delayed the start of its flights from Gatwick into Natal and Recife in northeast Brazil until the end of August, though customers already booked to travel before then have the option to fly out on scheduled services.

“Booking levels had been good but most were coming in at the end of the season. We were late coming out with the brochure,” said Booker.

However, he said he has been surprised with the success of the tours in the current brochure although the two-centre product has been disappointing. One of the problems Unijet has encountered is the perception that northeast Brazil is further away than it really is.

“People don’t realise it is quicker to fly to northeast Brazil than to Cancun.

“And the Brazilians weren’t familiar with the all-inclusive product, but they are now enthusiastic about the concept,” added Booker.

With the northeast opening up, Pickard is hoping to persuade a scheduled airline to launch a service into the area.