WTM London: Embratur meets with airlines to bring more flights to Brazil

The objective is to build new alliances, together with the Ministry of Tourism, with foreign airlines with the aim of expanding the air network from the United Kingdom and Europe to Brazil.

The president of Embratur, Marcelo Freixo, and the Minister of Tourism, Celso Sabino, worked together to build new alliances with foreign airlines with the aim of expanding the air network from the United Kingdom and Europe to Brazil, during one more day of World Travel Market London (WTM), one of the largest and most important tourism fairs in the world. In addition to Freixo and Sabino, the director of International Marketing, Business and Sustainability, Jaqueline Gil, and the Modals coordinator, Philippe Karat, received representatives from British Airways and the Italian company Neos - a subsidiary of Alpitour, the largest tour operator in Italy – together with RioGaleão, the concessionaire that operates the international airport of Rio de Janeiro. 

Italy is the fifth country that sent the most visitors to Brazil in 2023, with 87,138 tourists until September. In 2019, the country was in third place. Therefore, the initial objective is to return the air network between both countries to pre-pandemic levels. “We have a strategy to increase the number of flights to Brazil and Alpitour is one of the largest operators in Europe. We present to Neos the campaign that we have just launched on the continent, talking about this new Brazil, linked to the sustainability agenda and our repositioning in the market. We will give all our support to companies that plan to bring more visitors to our country,” said Freixo.

Freixo and Sabino received the global vice president of Alliances and International Affairs of Neos, Ginés Martínez, the company's commercial manager, Luca Campanati, and the director of Innovation, Lisandro Menu-Marque. Also participating in the meeting were the Aviation Marketing Manager of RioGaleão, Ana Paula Lopes, and the MICE Coordinator of the Rio Visitors & Convention Bureau, Patrícia Masche.  

The president of Embratur and his team also received Marc James and Robbie Campoion, directors of British Airways. The objective of the meeting is to reaffirm the support of the agencies to expand the offer of flights from London to Rio de Janeiro, going from five to seven weekly flights between the cities. The new flights will also expand the connection between Argentina, Brazil's main sending market, through Buenos Aires.

“We are challenged to return to pre-pandemic levels in the UK. It is not enough to leave Brazil on the shelf, it is necessary to increase the offer of flights. That is why we work with airlines to attract flights in line with our promotion strategy,” Freixo explained.