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A collection of states in northeast Brazil has launched a trade training programme at World Travel Market in a bid to raise its profile in the UK.
The Northeast Integrated Tourism Commission, or CTI Northeast, is aiming to train 600 agents and operator staff in its first year to grow tourism to the nine states which make up the region, and capitalise on investment made in the run-up to the 2014 Fifa World Cup.
Jeanine Pires, president of the CTI Northeast Foundation and also secretary of economic development and tourism for the state of Alagoas, said: “Four out of our nine cities were World Cup host cities, so the whole region had the opportunity to create more combined packages, improve its infrastructure, its road connections and air connections, hotels and events venues.
“Brazil is not very well known, and this region even less so in the UK, so our focus is to improve our relationships with tour operators and introduce online training for travel agents.
“I think once people start to know more about the country, once they’ve been to Rio or Iguassu Falls or the Amazon, you need to start presenting other regions. The UK is a big potential market with lots of experiential travellers, so we really need to bring more content to travel agents to help them sell it.”
The regional body also held a trade workshop in Fortaleza last year, hosting 23 UK tour operators including Journey Latin America, Bespoke Brazil and Veloso Tours, and will be releasing a digital marketing campaign next year to support awareness of the region.
Agents who complete the training will go into a prize draw to win a fam trip place to northeast Brazil next year.