Ministro del turismo brasiliano: speriamo di ottenere dal 4 al 4.5% del PIL

JOHANNESBURG – Brazil hopes its tourism industry will contribute up to 4.5 percent of its gross domestic product by 2014, the year it hosts the FIFA soccer World Cup, a government minister said on Tuesday.

Tourism Minister Luiz Barretto Filho told Reuters the South American country expected around 500 million tourists to visit during the 2014 tournament, considerably more than the around 370,000 visitors in South Africa, which is currently hosting the month-long competition.

“We hope to get 4 to 4.5 percent of the GDP (by 2014),” Filho said in an interview in Johannesburg.

“During the World Cup, we expect about 500 million foreign visitors.”