The high season in Rio Grande do Norte gave a boost to tourism, despite not portraying the same situation that the National Confederation of Commerce of Goods, Services and Tourism (CNC) pointed out for the country, with the 2023/2024 season as the best of the last ten years. Entities linked to the sector recognize that it was one of the best moments, although it was still not enough to replace the losses caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The heavily damaged sector was hit hard by pandemic crisis restrictions that sought to force social distancing and contain the transmission of the virus, causing establishments to close their doors.
Data compiled by the CNC, referring to the months of November and December 2023, January and February 2024, indicate that the high season in the country had the highest volume of revenue in a decade, reaching a total of R$162.2 billion. Before that, only in the same period of 2013/2014 the volume had been higher, reaching R$165.2 billion. This calculation includes expenses with accommodation, bars and restaurants, cultural services, airline tickets and car rental, intercity and interstate transport, travel agencies, among others.
The director of Innovation and Competitiveness at the Federation of Commerce of Goods, Services and Tourism (Fecomércio RN) explains that the survey of the last high season in the State should be consolidated in the coming weeks. The CNC makes the projection using revenue data that establishments pass on through institutions linked to it. “What we can already say, based on the data we research, is that in the high season this year, our tourist spent an average of around R$406 reais, considering regional, national and international expenses”, he declared. .
This survey is carried out for the Syrian – Rio Grande do Norte Tourism Intelligence System – developed in a partnership between the State Government, Fecomércio RN and Senac. The GMDI (Tourist’s Individual Average Daily Expenditure) represents, according to Luciano Kleiber, an increase of around 40%, when compared to 2019. “This average expenditure is what drives the entire tourism sector, but it is not the highest of the decade in the state because the biggest of the decade was from 2021 to 2022, which was exactly the period in which we had all the post-pandemic backlog and which was around R$ 450”, explains the director of Fecomércio RN.
Even so, he assesses that the 2023/2024 season had one of the biggest movements in the sector. “It was certainly a good high season for tourism in Rio Grande do Norte, judging by this average expenditure that we have already found”, emphasizes Kleiber.
The president of the Brazilian Hotel Industry Association (ABIH/RN), Abdon Gosson, also considers that the result was positive. “The numbers are good, especially given the airport data that there has been an increase in international flights. But the problem is because we have a very large supply of beds here in Rio Grande do Norte. The summer was good, it wasn’t great, excellent, or exceptional,” he points out.
According to him, tourism in the state is still suffering from losses caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. “During the pandemic, it was known that the recovery of tourism would last until 2024 and we are still in this moment of recovery and survival. The hotel industry is still suffering consequences. It was a good summer, it was a good high season and it has helped the situation of the sector, but we still need much more”, emphasizes the president of ABIH.
Until March 2022, tourist activities totaled a loss of R$485.1 billion in the country, since the worsening of the new coronavirus pandemic, in March 2020, according to the National Confederation of Commerce in Goods, Services and Tourism (CNC). ). In this sense, the entity says that it is important for the Senate to approve the bill that establishes a ceiling of R$15 billion for tax incentives for the Events Sector Emergency Resumption Program (Perse), created to help the sector during the covid-19 pandemic.
PL 1,026/2024 was approved on Tuesday, April 30, with wording changes, and will proceed to presidential sanction. “The maintenance of Perse guarantees the injection of up to R$ 244 billion into the national economy per year and, in this sense, the fight for the permanence of the program, fundamental to tourism, became victorious due to the importance of the sector in the economy and in life of people, generating jobs, income and development for the entire country”, says the president of the CNC, José Roberto Tadros.
