PRESIDENT LULA APPOINTS MARCELO FREIXO TO LEAD BRAZIL'S TOURIST BOARD - SIGNIFYING A NEW DIRECTION FOR BRAZILIAN TOURISM

• Marcelo Freixo assumes the Presidency of Embratur – the Brazilian Tourist Board – as Lula's administration starts to embed itself.
• Freixo intends to recalibrate Brazil's international image abroad as a nation committed to sustainable development and tourism.

BRASÍLIA, Brazil, Jan. 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has this month appointed Marcelo Freixo to lead Embratur (the Brazilian Tourist Board). Freixo's immediate priority will be on regaining trust from overseas tourism markets that Brazil is committed to environmental sustainability, eco-tourism and indigenous preservation. The newly reenergised tourism body hopes that these focus areas will increase inbound travel to Latin America's largest country, attract renewed investment for tourism infrastructure and bolster the international travel industry by creating employment opportunities.

"After four years of international isolation caused by the irresponsibility of the former government, Brazil will return to the global stage to resume its leading role in promoting dialogue, cooperation, focus on environmental issues and climate change. At Embratur, our mission will be to give Brazilian tourism the relevance it deserves, and that the world expects from us", Marcelo Freixo, President of Embratur, said.

On the same day that Freixo assumed the Presidency of Embratur, he announced that the first step will be an internal restructure. "We will carry out a technical restructuring of our management and how we are governed with a fresh emphasis on transparency. We are going to resume our focus on marketing, promotion and supporting the commercialisation of Brazil abroad by harnessing the benefits of using data intelligence, crafting effective partnerships with the public and private sectors, investment in innovative practices, and placing the environment at the heart of all of our decision-making," Freixo continued.

Frexio intends to work with newly appointed government ministers whose work is directly related to the modernisation of public policies and who are running programmes aimed at promoting tourism abroad. "In addition to integrating our priorities into this administration's foreign policy agenda and that of various ministries under Lula's new government, we will resume dialogue with overseas markets and partners to ensure that everyone understands that Brazil is back. We are going to build a modern, professional and efficient Embratur that is committed to sustainable tourism and development," Freixo concluded.

ABOUT MARCELO FREIXO

The new president of Embratur, Marcelo Freixo, is a trained history teacher and was born into a poor community in São Gonçalo, a city in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro. The eldest son of his family, Freixo was elected State Deputy in Rio de Janeiro in 2006. Freixo then ran for Mayor of Rio de Janeiro twice, in 2012 and 2016, and for the state government in 2022.

Freixo was elected Federal Deputy in 2018, the same year that Jair Bolsonaro became President of the Republic, and eventually became Leader of the Opposition to the government, which led him to be honoured twice as Best Parliamentarian in Brazil for the Congress in Focus Award. Marcelo Freixo was a key player in the transition team of Lula's new Government and was the primary player in integrating the tourism group into the new administration.

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ABOUT EMBRATUR
The Brazilian Tourist Board (Embratur) is responsible for implementing National Tourism Policy in the areas of promotion, marketing, and marketing support for Brazilian tourist destinations, services, and products in the international market. Embratur helps to generate social and economic development for the country by increasing the flow of international tourists to national destinations.

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