SAO PAULO — Brazil is home to the largest rain forest on Earth. It has miles of sandy, deserted beaches and stunning flat-topped mountains. It invented samba and a devilish little drink called the caipirinha. It has large reserves for native peoples and charming colonial towns built by the Portuguese.
Despite the seeming abundance of riches for travelers, it has a tourism problem. Because while visitors may have heard about the Amazon or the stunning beaches of Rio de Janeiro, they have probably also heard that Brazil has high crime, was swept by a Zika virus outbreak and that its politicians have concocted the largest graft scheme in Latin American history.
Only 6.6 million foreigners visited the country last year, according to the Ministry of Tourism. That’s about half the number that go to the tiny citystate of Singapore, and this in a continent-sized country that the World Economic Forum ranks No. 1 in natural resources and No. 8 in cultural resources. Also, it hosted the 2016 Summer Olympics.
“The highest gap between potential in tourism in the world and what’s been realized so far is Brazil,” said Vinicius Lummertz, the president of Embratur, Brazil’s tourism board.
The government plan includes a law to allow 100 percent foreign ownership of airlines, with the aim of increasing flight routes and driving down the cost of travel. Another plank will allow Americans, Canadians, Japanese and Australians — all of whom need visas to visit Brazil — to apply for visas online, instead of at a consulate.
Cheaper flights and a smoother visa process will address some tourist complaints about Brazil, but Alison McGowan said the plan ignores the most glaring problem: Nobody knows how great Brazil is in the first place.
“People don’t even get as far as [applying for a visa],” said McGowan, the CEO of hiddenpousadasbrazil.com, a guide to inns, boutique hotels, and bedand-breakfasts in Brazil.
McGowan and other tourism professionals say the government lacks a coherent campaign to promote Brazil abroad beyond the cliches of Carnival and soccer great Pele.
Part of the government’s plan is to beef up Embratur. Last year, Embratur had a $16 million budget — which the agency said was much less than what other South American countries spend.
McGowan and others said Brazil is particularly bad at reaching modern global travelers who research trips and make reservations online. Mc-Gowan called the country’s main tourism portal for foreigners, visitbrasil.com, “a disgrace.”
Lummertz said the government’s plan will help promote Brazil abroad, but the nation’s tourist blues go beyond that. Latin America’s largest nation is still struggling to overcome decades of isolation and remains a closed off economy.
High import taxes and other hangovers from isolation make the country expensive for travelers, and reduce the quality of goods and services. Few Brazilians speak English, partly because they are unlikely to come across global travelers.
But, “anybody who goes to Brazil comes back loving it,” said Pauline Frommer, the co-publisher of the Frommer’s guidebooks and frommers.com. “The key is getting people there.”