Record $845 M Tourism Budget

BRASILIA, Brazil:
On the eve of Carnival, Brazil's Tourism Ministry announced a record US$845 million (€654 million) budget for an annual campaign to attract more visitors to Latin America's largest country.

The budget "is the biggest in the history of tourism in the country," Minister Walfrido dos Mares Guia said on the ministry's Web site.


Brazil expects to gain US$9 billion to US$10 billion (€7 billion to €7.7 billion) in tourism revenue by 2010, Mares Guia said.

Brazil last year received US$4.3 million (€3.3 billion) from tourism, an 11.7 percent increase from 2005, according to Central Bank figures quoted by the ministry.

Brazil, home to major tourist attractions including Rio de Janeiro and Igaucu Falls, drew 5.4 million foreign visitors in 2005 — only 1.2 percent of the 808 million international visits registered that year around the world, the ministry said.