The Brazilian government has established a new policy called the National Policy for the Tourist Management of Cultural and Natural World Heritage Sites. The decree is part of a series of measures that the Ministry of Tourism is adopting with the aim of improving the business environment for the tourism sector and increasing investment opportunities in Brazil. The proposal aligns with the National Tourism Plan 2018-2022, which defined as one of its strategies the goal of “promoting the value of cultural and natural heritage for tourism.”
The announcement is the result of a partnership between the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministries of Citizenship, Environment, and Regional Development, with the support of the Brazilian Institute of Tourism (Embratur), the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), and the National Institute of Historical and Artistic Heritage (IPHAN).The objective of the new law is to help maintain, develop new programs, organize projects, and promote tourism segments related to Cultural and Natural World Heritage Sites in Brazil. Brazil has 21 World Heritage Sites recognized by UNESCO. These sites are divided between Cultural and Natural World Heritage Sites.
“This initiative represents a milestone in the appreciation and preservation of our natural and cultural heritage. We rank eighth among countries with cultural attractions in the world, and we need to know how to better leverage our potential to attract more foreign visitors and also encourage more Brazilians to discover the beauty of our own country,” said the Minister of Tourism, Marcelo Álvaro Antônio.World Heritage Sites – Cultural:
- Monuments: monumental architectural buildings or sculptures or paintings, elements of archaeological structures, inscriptions, caves, and groups of elements of exceptional universal value from a historical, artistic, or scientific perspective;
- Groups: groups of constructions that, through their architecture, blend with the landscape with universal and exceptional nature, from a historical, artistic, or scientific perspective; and
- Places of Interest: works created by man or works created by man and related to nature, and areas, attached archaeological sites, that possess exceptional universal value from a historical, aesthetic, ethnological, or anthropological perspective.
World Heritage Sites – Natural:
- Natural monuments consisting of physical and biological formations or groups of such formations of exceptional universal value from an aesthetic or scientific perspective.
- Geological and physiographic formations and clearly defined areas that constitute the habitat of threatened animal and plant species of exceptional universal value from a scientific or conservation perspective.
- Clearly defined natural sites or areas of exceptional universal value from a scientific, conservation, or natural beauty perspective.
Some of these natural and cultural sites in Brazil are:
- Historic Center of Salvador de Bahia
- Islands of the Brazilian Atlantic: Fernando de Noronha and Atol das Rocas Reserves
- Iguaçu National Park
- Central Amazon Protected Areas
- Rio de Janeiro: Carioca Landscapes between Mountain and Sea
- Pantanal Conservation Area
- Historic City of Ouro Preto
The Ministry of Tourism, together with the other involved entities, is preparing a package of measures to implement the National Policy for the Tourist Management of World Natural and Cultural Heritage Sites. By the end of 2019 and 2020, through a partnership with SEBRAE, the tourist regions around these UNESCO World Heritage Sites will be able to count on a series of actions related to the 
development and promotion of tourism.These include guidance seminars for public and private agencies on financing lines for tourism; investment attraction opportunity portfolios (mapping business opportunities, public-private partnerships, and economic feasibility studies of identified business opportunities); participation in national and international fairs for promoting and attracting investments for tourism; support for revitalization projects of tourist areas and creative occupation of public spaces; as well as 
national and international tourism promotion campaigns; among others.To carry out these projects, a World Heritage Tourism Management Committee will be formed, which will be responsible for proposing, monitoring, and evaluating actions associated with tourism activities related to World Heritage. The Ministry of 
Tourism will lead and coordinate the group’s actions.Among the objectives of the World Heritage Tourism Management Committee are support for the preservation and promotion of World Heritage Sites; increasing the value and promotion of tourism, sustainably, for World Heritage Sites; improving tourism management and the offering of tourism products and services associated with World Heritage, as first-order heritage destinations; among others.Source: www.visitBrasil.com