Through to 2012, Sebrae will be developing a series of actions seeking to value and revitalize 24 different tourist routes made by train, and also boost the competitivity of some 700 small businesses and individual business concerns present close to, or even inside, the stations of these destinations. For this purpose, there will be a total investment of US$ 1.37 million. This project will be implemented through a partnership with the Brazilian Association of Cultural and Tourist Trains (Associação Brasileira de Trens Turísticos e Culturais – ABOTT).
Such actions will be carried out in the states of Rio de Janeiro, Mato Grosso do Sul, Pernambuco, Santa Catarina, Bahia, Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul, and are part of the project by the name of Development of Management and Competitivity of Tourist Train Operators and Management (Desenvolvimento da Competitividade e Gestão dos Operadores e Empreendimentos de Trens Turísticos). The best known of these include the Corcovado Railroad (Rio de Janeiro), the Pantanal Train (Mato Grosso do Sul), the Forró Train (Pernambuco) and the Serra do Mar Train (Paraná).
The agreement between these two institutions started in February 2010. Since then, actions have been implemented, including the execution of strategic planning with the participation of the representatives of tourist train operators, as also small business, local branches of Sebrae, City Halls, Secretariats for Tourism, and other partners.
As from the month of February, some 480 business people and entrepreneurs will be appropriately trained, as informs the consultant of the Train is Tourism (Trem é Turismo) Project, Luiz Carlos Barboza. “Half this public is informal. They will receive advice about how to become formal businesses and also be subjected to an initial diagnosis and skills training, as well as direct consultancy services and workshops for information exchange”, explains Mr. Barboza. The main activities of the public are gastronomy and also the sale of souvenirs.
A total of 24 workshops were held, one at each destination. Each of these tourist routes also has a local agent, responsible for the mobilization of local businesspeople and partners, and also foe scheduling workshops and consultancies. “Even though we are talking about an activity that goes back to Imperial days, the project is innovative. The next step is that of implementing business centers, seeking to focus on the market”, says the national tourism coordinator of Sebrae, Dival Schmidt.
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