Festuris: Governor of Rio de Janeiro invests in national and international tourism fairs

The then lawyer started in politics as chief of staff of a councilor in 2004, in 2012 he tried unsuccessfully to be elected councilor, an achievement achieved in 2016.

In 2018, for partisan reasons, he became vice-governor, after the impeachment of Wilson Witzel, he took over the government of the state of Rio de Janeiro and was re-elected last year with almost 60% of the votes. Gustavo Tutuca is his government's tourism secretary. 

The opening party of Festuris, which had the singer Mumuzinho, was offered by the state of Rio de Janeiro in the campaign 

"Rio is still beautiful. And close!", also focused on domestic tourism from neighboring states such as São Paulo and Minas Gerais. It is also very easy to enter the capital via the air network.

Non-tourism investments

Castro believes in managing the economy, public security and tourism, and said that Rio de Janeiro returned after years to being the most sought after state by tourists in Brazil. "Tourism is the basis of development and social justice. In macro revenue you may even have the false idea that it is not important, but when you look at what it impacts on the entire chain, in various restaurants, hotels, in services, everything in general, you see how important it is", said the governor of RJ.

Tourism fairs around the world

According to Cláudio Castro, Rio de Janeiro once again attended all of the most important international and national tourism fairs in the world. He explains that from the perspective of public safety, natural and cultural beauty and guaranteed that the results are being significant. 

"The fact that the state has unique beauties creates a unique experience in terms of environmental tourism, which always makes tourists want to return", explained Castro. Another bet that has already achieved results is digital nomads, sports tourism, land, mountains, sea and diversity.

Making it easier for entrepreneurs in the sector

Castro believes in the union of federal, state and municipal powers to encourage entrepreneurs and businesspeople in the tourism industry, because according to him it is the best way to obtain positive experiences for visitors.

"The first thing we did was a 25% reduction in the ICMS tax burden on bars, restaurants and hotels. So this was already a huge incentive for the category, an incentive for those who wanted to undertake or who were having difficulty because of of the pandemic," says the governor.

Cláudio Castro's management then invested in technical schools - FAETEC, which was implemented by Le Cordon Bleu, one of the largest gastronomy schools in the world. 

The state of Rio de Janeiro provided the land as a concession for 20 years, as an incentive for the tourism sector to develop new chefs to supply the state.

Gastronomic spaces in RJ

As tourism generates many street vendors, especially on the beaches, the governor spoke about the subject:

"You can't have someone selling informally in the same place as a formal person. So, it's important that there is urban planning to create democracy. I help those who don't have the means, but without disturbing those who pay taxes and who create jobs. This helps People have been trying to democratize, especially in gastronomy", explained the governor.

Castro notes that the area today has greater quality and new developments and is betting on the growth of gastronomy in the coming years.

The promotion of Rio de Janeiro through audiovisual

There are large communication groups in the state, the largest TV stations in the country, and national and international film producers. What transformed the city with greater spontaneous promotion through cinema and soap operas, which were sold all over the world.

The governor then cited the Polo Rio Cine Vídeo project partners from Rio de Janeiro city hall, which is a complex made up of small, medium and large studios, in Barra da Tijuca in the state capital. He spoke about the laws to encourage culture. "It's the biggest incentive law in the country, the only one that the entrepreneur supports you 100% in exchange for a 100% discount on taxes, this gives you an incentive to support cultural in Rio de Janeiro, in the audiovisual sector, and This is the state valuing and encouraging the audiovisual which is so important, in addition to being a promoter for the city and the State of Rio de Janeiro," concluded Cláudio Castro.

Report and photo: Mary de Aquino.