Gilson Machado Neto is appointed Minister of Tourism of Brazil

Gilson Machado Neto is the new Minister of Tourism. The official takes the position after more than a year as General Director of the Brazilian Agency for International Tourism Promotion (Embratur), where he worked in the promotion of Brazilian tourism abroad and, more recently, during the pandemic. in national promotion. Before assuming the presidency of Embratur, in May 2019, he was the National Secretary of Ecotourism of the Ministry of the Environment (MMA).

A member of the Rota dos Milagres tourism union and the Maragogi Convention Bureau (AL), Machado Neto graduated in veterinary medicine, but it was in tourism that he found his vocation, working in the sector for more than 30 years. At 52, Gilson is also an entrepreneur, event producer, and musician.

From now on, Gilson will be in charge of leading the actions of the Ministry of Tourism, made up of the Executive Secretariat; National Secretariat for Tourism Competitiveness and Development; National Secretariat for the Attraction of Investments, Alliances and Concessions; Secretariat of Tourism Infrastructure; and Special Secretariat of Culture.

The Minister of Tourism Gilson Machado, highlighted this Thursday night (10.12) the importance of tourism in the recovery of the economy and its vocation to generate employment and income for the population. "Tourism can be as important an engine of the economy as agribusiness," Machado said during an interview with TV CNN, referring to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.

Even during the interview, the minister highlighted the potential of Brazil to offer the best tourist experiences in nature, since it is a continental country, with six biomes with different characteristics. According to him, the flagship of the return of tourism activities worldwide will be nature tourism.

“We are the only country in the world that has six biomes: Pantanal, Pampa, Amazonia, Mata Atlântica, Caatinga and the Cerrado. We have the largest capillarity of water in the world. No country can compare to ours in terms of rivers, in terms of fauna, in saltwater fish, in freshwater fish. We have the greatest potential for nautical tourism ”, he listed. "Brazil will have 'recovery'. Nothing will be like our country in recovery because the world today wants nature tourism and, with regard to nature, nothing equals our country, "he concluded.

Machado also recalled that Brazil will host the first office of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in the Americas region, according to the entity's secretary general, Zurab Pololikashvili. "I could have gone to the United States, I could have gone to the Caribbean, I could have gone to Argentina, but no, [the WTO] chose Brazil because it knows the potential we have," he said.

The Minister of Tourism pointed out that, given the impacts of Covid-19, Brazil is "the country that has the greatest growth potential in the world in the post-pandemic period." Gilson Machado reported that the tourism sector has already shown signs of recovery. “Brazil is a country that sends 11 million tourists abroad, practically Switzerland. They are tourists with high purchasing power and these people are now traveling within Brazil, they are getting to know Brazil better, because today there are several health barriers ”, he added.

During the interview, Machado listed the actions already taken by the Ministry of Tourism to help entrepreneurs in the sector and enable the resumption of activities, safely and responsibly. “Our government has taken actions that have kept jobs. Of the tourist countries, Brazil was one of those with the fewest job losses. Several parliamentarians saved their jobs, such as relaxing labor relations, the parliamentarian who managed to maintain cash flow with the “do not cancel, reschedule” campaign, and the parliamentarian who contributed R $ 5 billion to the sector in Fungetur to lend to the tourism sector ”, he concluded.

And, finally, he called on the municipal and state authorities not to decide to close activities related to the tourist trade again to protect the work of those who obtain their livelihood from tourism. “I know that Covid-19 is a very serious problem, but employment is also very important. We have security protocols. We have the adopted protocols that today are at the forefront of the world ”, he defended. "Municipalities and states have mechanisms to inspect if they are wearing gloves, if they are using gel alcohol ... So we have to fight," he concluded.