FROM EMBRATUR TO NATIONAL TOURISM POLITICS

Abstract

This article discusses the structure of tourism activities from the perspective of federal policies. The analysis of its legislation reveals progress in relation to political and economic advances Brazil has been experiencing since the 1990s. Federal tourism policies designed to encourage cash inflow have, on the one hand, boosted tourism of local and international visitors. On the other hand, these policies have also resulted in the federal government trying to better understand how tourism helps employment and income, and the exact size of the tourism industry. More than 40 years after the enactment of the country’s first law governing this activity, tourism is now considered an important driver of employment, income and hard currency, which calls for better overall planning and regulations. The government’s first reaction was to create the Ministry of Tourism in 2003. More recently, in 2010, the government enacted the National Tourism Policy, which defines the responsibilities of the federal government and makes it mandatory that all tourism service providers be registered at the above ministry. This article is comprised of three parts: the first deals with the first initiatives to regulate the industry and has Embratur as its main landmark; the second discusses Prodetur, which was created in the 1990s and represents an important public policy for encouraging tourism infrastructure and partnerships between public and private sectors; the third, covering the 21st century, presents the current structure of the sector under the National Tourism Plan.