A joint analysis of the latest air ticketing data by data firm ForwardKeys and Emprotur, Empresa Potiguar de Promotion Turística, shine some positive light on domestic tourism in Brazil, particularly to the star of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, as the city demonstrates resilience and demand. The overall performance of the Brazilian domestic market in June reached 108% of the 2019 demand, encouraging considering the current climate.
Despite the global pandemic that is creating havoc in most parts of the world, including Latin America, it appears not to be a deterrent for Brazilian traveller’s keen to escape the concrete jungles of the south for wide, open spaces in the North.
Three of the top 5 origin cities for domestic travel to Natal are in the south of the nation. Paulistas are up 288% of 2019 levels for on the book arrivals from July 1 – 31 December. Porto Alegre is also up by 191%, a flight connection that is going from strength to strength.
The Government of Rio Grande do Norte is working relentlessly, together with the entire local tourist trade, to ensure a steady recovery in the pursuit of the highest demand levels, putting their focus on the short term domestic market, and later moving the focus to the international market.
“We have set out a strategy of positioning our destinations within a wide range of touchpoints, focusing more on conversion rather than awareness. We are developing co-op marketing campaigns with retail agencies, OTAs and big tour operators, also running training sessions for travel agents in parallel to provide them with resources to help with their sales process. By using the data provided from ForwardKeys, we have been able to develop the best “set up” for the campaigns in each source market. So, this growth is a result of this approach grounded on exhaustive market data analysis plus a proactive relationship with the top-performing market players”, says Bruno Reis, the Chairman of Emprotur Brazil.
And the future appears also to be bright for Rio Grande do Norte. “When examining the increase of scheduled seat capacity for arrivals later in the year, we can see that the airlines are betting on an increase in demand as per what our on the book data shows, a pickup above 2019 levels in travel to Natal for Q4 of the year,” says Juan Gomez, Insights Analyst at ForwardKeys.
“Travel agents and agencies can look forward to an event called the “Rio Grande do Norte experience” in Q4, where we will bring selected travel agents and the top performers to the state for a first-hand experience of the destination and all that it offers,” adds Reis.