Embratur announces the creation of the 1st unit of Embratur Lab in Rio de Janeiro, a center for developing innovations for tourism. The goal is to promote competitiveness and environmental sustainability of services in this sector. The innovation lab was launched in partnership with Turistech Hub Brasil, a center with similar objectives based in São Paulo.
“The city of Rio de Janeiro was chosen to launch this project because it offers a wide variety of services related to tourism, from hosting large urban events to ecotourism in our mountains and forests, from religious tourism to festive tourism. This will be our first major lab to test innovations used in tourist destinations across Brazil,” highlighted Embratur’s president, Marcelo Freixo.
According to Marcelo Freixo, after the lab in Rio, new centers will be installed in other cities across the country in partnership with the private sector.
Roberto Gevaerd, Director of Management and Innovation at Embratur, will lead the Embratur Lab: “Our goal is to use technology to enhance the experience of international tourists in Brazil. Embratur will invite and support start-ups to use Rio de Janeiro as a space to experiment with new solutions and technologies. We want to transform Rio into a major technological lab for tourism,” he stated.
The new center aims, among other things, to organize ‘Big Data’ so that companies in the tourism sector can identify trends and consumer behaviors and tailor their offerings according to public demand. Developing green technology solutions will be a priority to help reduce the carbon footprint of tourism, including the use of renewable energy, implementing sustainable practices in hotels, and promoting responsible tourism practices.