I’m all forward to Social Medias (Facebook, Twitter, Hotel Blogs and Sites…. even LinkdIn) but back in early 80`s tourism destinations have been created thanks to the hard work of the Conventions and Visitors Bureau; they were (still) responsible for the creation of the image of a city as a tourism destination through some tools, i.e. Sales Missions, participation on International Trade Fairs, etc… anyway.. I started in the Hotel Industry in 1983 in Miami Beach in a hotel called Sans Souci as a Latin American Sales Manager. That time Miami/Miami Beach wasn’t famous or glamorous to say the least… (beside Miami had a bad reputation of being the City of the Drug Lords…) here in Brazil the upper medium class vacationers had Paris or London on their minds.
That time Miami had the fortune to hire Mr. Ron Kent (still active in the industry) to the Greater Miami Beach and Convention Center who through an excellent team made Miami and the Beaches the brand of nowadays and of course to all Sales and Marketing Manager that started promoting Miami and the Beaches (me included). Mr. Many Centeno was the person responsible for the Latin American Market.
So, under the guidance of Mr. Kent, Mr. Centeno started organizing Sales Missions to Latin America (I remember that we used to travel every month to a different country); we traveled the whole year to all Latin American Countries on Sales Missions and also participating of Major International Trade Shows. The results can be seeing nowadays. It all started with the Great Miami Beach & Visitors Bureau and of course with the Sales team from many companies. My point is that the old saying “out of sight, out of mind” proved to be very truthful.
Last year in the U.S., international arrivals from Brazil were up 16 percent from the year before, to 893,000, making Brazil this country's seventh-largest foreign market. By 2014, the annual total is forecast to reach 1.9 million, according to forecasts released by the U.S. Department of Commerce's Office of Travel and Tourism Industries. Tourism officials note that Brazilian vacationers come now despite the hassle of getting permission beforehand to enter the U.S. With one U.S. embassy and only three U.S. consulates in Brazil, prospective visitors must often "take a trip to take their trip," according to the U.S. Travel Association, driving or flying hundreds of miles to apply in person for a visa.
So another point is if Conventions and Visitors Bureau from other American destinations should also starting investing on the Brazilian Market (investing as making presence on trade Shows, organizing Sales Missions, etc…) they would be creating the habit on the Brazilian Travelers to exploring other US destinations.
