JUE 28 DE MARZO DE 2024 - 19:07hs.
Marcelo Álvaro Antônio, Tourism Minister

"Integrated resorts in Brazil will have a maximum of 5% used by the casino activity"

In an exclusive interview with “A Tarde” newspaper, during a visit to Porto Seguro in an event organized by deputies Jonga Bacelar (PL) and Jânio Natal (PPB), the Minister of Tourism Marcelo Álvaro Antônio said he wanted to “present a project of integrated resorts with casinos for Brazil that has the capacity to generate, at least, eight thousand jobs.” For him, the discussion will be deepened in the second semester. According to the minister, “more than 90% of the countries that make up the UN, already have integrated resorts.”

Marcelo Álvaro Antônio, who has been dealing with the issue for a long time, stressed that the Ministry of Tourism is preparing a plan to present to the National Congress, to the President of the Republic. "This is not an agenda of the President of the Republic, of the federal government, but it is a time when this discussion is inevitable. More than 90% of the countries that make up the UN today, for example, already have integrated resorts," he analyzed.

The head of the Tourism portfolio gave more details about the idea he thinks for the return of casinos in Brazil. "What we want is to present a project that is viable, away from the big centers and creating a special area of tourist interest, where these integrated resorts will be developed. Where, at most, 5% is used by the casino activity, and which subsidizes the other activities of the complex," he explained.

"So we have shopping centers, golf courses ... really large resorts that each have a capacity to generate at least eight thousand jobs," detailed Marcelo Álvaro Antônio about the sources of employment that could be opened for Brazilians after the pandemic and thanks to this project.

Finally, the minister talked about the current situation of the project. “It is a discussion that is being made, it is being deepened in this second semester, and we will see if we can really assemble, make a model that will meet the wishes of both the population Brazilian Congress and the federal government," concluded Álvaro Antônio.

This is not the first time that the Minister of Tourism has referred to the topic. He also mentioned the casinos, even though he acknowledged that the matter is controversial, at the ministerial meeting on April 22, which was made public after a decision by Minister Celso de Mello, of the Federal Supreme Court.

“The Ministry of Tourism now has to have a plan, an investment attraction plan, which is what generates jobs, income, topics that obviously helps the economy of Brazil. And for that I believe that the time is right, in this planning of the resumption, to discuss the integrated resorts [with casinos],” said the minister to President Jair Bolsonaro and other colleagues from the Esplanada who were present at the mentioned meeting.

Source: GMB