Tourism has the capacity to be as important as agribusiness, says minister

With the resumption of maritime cruises in Brazil from this Friday (5), Brazilians will be able to travel through Brazilian waters after 20 months of stoppage of this tourist activity due to the pandemic.

In an interview with CNN, the minister of Tourism, Gilson Machado, highlighted the importance of the sector for the country’s economic recovery.

“The tourism sector has the capacity to be as important in the national GDP as agribusiness,” said the minister. According to him, Brazil has “the largest water capacity in the world” that can be exploited by the sector.

“We have Brazilians, who traveled abroad, getting to know tourism in Brazil, which they did not know before. Brazil is the hot spot and a great opportunity for tourism now”, he highlighted.

To resume cruises, the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) established a series of protocols for crew and passengers, which includes the need to present proof of complete vaccination against Covid-19.

In addition, there are rules for ventilation and cleaning of air conditioning inside the cabins. Each vessel must present its plan in advance to Anvisa before the start of the season and daily testing of 10% of passengers on board and 10% of the crew.

For the minister, the resumption of cruises offers security to passengers and crew based on the protocol established by Anvisa.

“The protocol was made by the Ministry of Health and Anvisa. The cruises will not be 100% occupied, but 75% and the distance will be 1.5 meters.”

This Wednesday, the Port of Santos confirmed the CNN the arrival of the MSC Preziosa vessel, stating that it is the first to dock after the suspension period.