Loss of the tourism sector is R$ 463 billion during the pandemic, says CNC

Cruise companies have decided to extend the suspension of operations in Brazil, on a voluntary basis, until February 4th.

In a note, CLIA Brasil (Brazilian Association of Cruise Ships) and its associates informed that they intend to “continue the discussions with the competent authorities, in order to align the necessary measures for the resumption of cruises”, and that the voluntary extension of the suspension of operations in Brazil “contrasts with the positive evolution in the United States, where health authorities recognized the effectiveness of the cruise industry protocols and announced the elevation of the Conditional Sailing Order (CSO), which helped guide the sector’s return to operations in North America.”

This Thursday (13), the Ministry of Health reported that it continues to monitor the case and, together with the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa), States and Municipalities, health issues will be analyzed to assess the possibility of resumption or not. of services.

In its turn, Anvisa understands that the definitive suspension of the cruise ship season in Brazil is necessary to protect the health of the population, given the national scenario. However, he highlighted that the final decision on whether or not to maintain the season after January 21 is not Anvisa’s, but the inter-ministerial group formed by the Civil House, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Infrastructure.

However, the agency remains attentive to the outcome of cases in crew members, especially regarding vessels that are still in quarantine.

AT CNN, the Italian company Costa Crociere confirmed its support for CLIA’s decision, but emphasized that “it has been adopting strict health procedures for the boarding of passengers through the Costa Security Protocol by determining that all guests and crew are fully vaccinated and have negative tests at the time of boarding.”

With the suspension, two of the company’s ships in Brazil in the 2021/22 season were affected. To passengers, the company is offering the option to convert the amount paid for the cruise into a credit voucher to be used until December 31, 2022 for departures until June 30, 2023 or refund.

MSC Cruises was also contacted, but did not return a position.

Omicron’s impact on tourism

Tourism, one of the sectors most affected by the coronavirus pandemic, saw an improvement in demand for destinations and, consequently, in economic activity in November 2021.

However, with the increase in cases caused by the Ômicron variant, the tendency is for the recovery of services to delay a little longer, as pointed out by the National Confederation of Trade in Goods, Services and Tourism (CNC) based on data from the Monthly Survey. of Services (PMS) of November, published by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). In numbers, the accumulation of the economic impact reaches R$ 463.8 billion.

Also according to the Confederation, the drop in the circulation of consumers in areas of commerce and services was more pronounced in the first week of 2022 (-7.1%) than in the first seven days of last year (-6.3%). .

One of the main reasons for the drop in the number of travelers is the cancellation of relevant events in the high season of Brazilian tourism, especially Carnival, which, before the start of the pandemic, moved around R$ 8.1 billion in Brazil.

However, the economist responsible for the research, Fabio Bentes, believes in a more positive scenario in the second half of this year. Although the data are not yet closed, he projects an increase of 22.5% in tourism revenue in 2021 and 1.7% in 2022.

“We believe that the sector will be able to regain its full potential for generating revenue from September 2022. In both cases, if expectations are confirmed, both service and tourism would register the highest annual growth rates since the beginning of the PMS”, esteem.