Tourism Ministry participated on Tuesday (16) in press conference to introduce the 42nd ABAV Expo, to take place from September 24 to 28 in SĂŁo Paulo

The partnership between the Tourism Ministry and 42nd ABAV International Tourism Expo will have special spaces during the largest event of the industry in the Americas. One of them is the main stand, with the Minister’s office, where he will work from and follow the event during the whole week, and a 3D movie theater showing domestic destination films. All spaces of the Ministry will be marked with adhesives of the #partiuBrasil campaign, which promotes the domestic tourism in the country.

End consumers will have a type of amusement park promoted by the Ministry: the Experiences Space created for those who want to try adventure tourism, such as tree top walking, or test their kayaking skills in a pool specially assembled for the expo. Relaxing massage will be offered in a type of tourism spa.

“The expo is an opportunity for different segments to meet and contribute to tourism development. I am sure we will have a fruitful exchange of information, new businesses, and an especially inviting place for the end consumer,” said Brazil’s Tourism Minister Vinicius Lages.

Business tourism will also stand out at the ABAV Expo. The Ministry will bring representatives from the 12 cities that hosted the most corporate events in 2013. The goal is to put them in direct contact with the top executives of the industry and promote the business tourism sector in the country.

ABAV Expo visitors will also have access to the top credit facilities with representatives from five state-run banks. They will occupy a stand of the Ministry especially created to promote credit services to the industry.

The tourism expo will also host a business round promoted by the Ministry, with the goal of bringing together local and foreign tourism operators with companies in the industry, like hotels, receptive tourism companies, and transportation companies. All 26 Brazilian states and the Distrito Federal will be represented in separate stands, promoting their destinations. The space was given by the Tourism Ministry.

According to Antonio Azevedo, chairman of ABAV Nacional, the partnership with the Ministry proves the event’s potential. “We share with the government the goal of promoting the sale of Brazil as a destination, contributing to increase the foreign tourist inbound and to promote the domestic market,” he said. “There will be plenty of opportunities to promote the country’s main attractions during the event,” Azevedo said.

To encourage consumers to visit the event, Feirão ABAV will be held on September 27 and 28, when hundreds of packaged tours will be sold with discounts and promotional prices negotiated exclusively for the event. “Like the Ministry, one of our goals is to encourage Brazilians to travel more in the country, which is a key factor to leveraging the travel industry as a whole,” said Azevedo.

The 42nd edition of ABAV Expo will gather 3,500 exhibitor brands, representatives from 65 countries, and an estimated 40,000 professionals from all segments of the tourism industry, Destinations like South Africa, United Arab Emirates, El Salvador, Slovenia, Morocco, and Mozambique will participate in the event for the first time in this year’s edition.

The event will also host 126 lectures, and three plenary meetings, which are part of the program of the 42nd Brazilian Travel Agencies Congress and the Knowledge Village. One of the highlights is the debate scheduled for September 25 to discuss the proposals of the presidential candidates to the travel and tourism sector.

Institutional Profile

The 42nd ABAV International Tourism Expo is promoted by the Brazilian Travel Agencies Association (ABAV Nacional), with the support of the Tourism Ministry, the Brazilian Tourism Institute (Embratur), the São Paulo City Government, and São Paulo Turismo (SPTuris), the city’s tourism and events company, which manages the Anhembi Exhibition Park.

An international partner of BTL (Bolsa de Turismo de Lisboa) and ITB Berlin, ABAV Expo, the largest and most important international travel and tourism business fair of the Americas is sponsored by the Brazilian Support Service to Micro and Small Companies (Sebrae) and the National Confederation of Goods, Services and Tourism Trading (CNC), which manages one of the world’s largest social development systems—the Commerce Social Service (Sesc), operating in the education, health, culture and leisure fields, and the National Commercial Learning Service (Senac), which is the leading professional education agent in the goods, services and tourism trading sector.

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