Brazil Debuts New Tourism Innovation Development Center

Brazil Tourism announced the first unit of its innovation development center for tourism debuted on March 1.

The center, dubbed Embratur Lab, is located in Rio de Janeiro and was designed to promote competitiveness and environmental sustainability to services in the travel sector. The unit was developed in partnership with Turistech Hub Brasil, a similar center based in Sao Paulo.

Embratur's Director of Management and Innovation, Roberto Gevaerd, will be tasked with running the Embratur Lab, which intends to help companies in the tourism sector identify trends and consumer behavior to customize their offers to meet public demand.

"Our goal is to use technology to improve the experience of international tourists in Brazil," Gevaerd said. "For this, we are going to invite and support startups to use Rio de Janeiro as a space to experiment with these new solutions and technologies. We want to transform Rio into a great technology laboratory for tourism."

Embratur Lab will also be tasked with developing green technology solutions that reduce the carbon footprint of tourism, including renewable energy, sustainable practices in hotels and responsible tourism practices.

"The city of Rio de Janeiro was chosen to start this project because it has a wide range of services related to tourism, from hosting large events to urban ecotourism in our mountains and forests, from religious tourism to party tourism," Embratur president Marcelo Freixo said.

"It will be our first large laboratory to test innovations that will be used in tourist destinations throughout Brazil," Freixo continued.

Freixo also revealed that new centers would be installed in other cities across Brazil in partnership with the private sector.

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