The Government of Paraíba, through the Secretariat for Tourism and Economic Development and the Paraíba Tourism Company (PBTur), with the support of Sebrae, held, this Thursday (25), at the João Pessoa Convention Center, the 1st Fomtur - Forum of Municipal Tourism Secretaries and Directors of Paraíba. The event preceded the opening of the III ExpoTurismo, which runs until this Saturday (26).

The State Secretary for Tourism and Economic Development, Rosália Lucas, together with the Executive Secretary, Delano Tavares, and the President of PBTur, Ferdinando Lucena, presented the actions developed by the State Government to promote tourism in the State.

Host of the event, Rosália stressed that Paraíba spares no efforts in actions and investments to position the State as the best and biggest June destination in the Northeast. "São João do Nordeste is an event where we receive tourists from all over the world, not to mention that there are practically three months of June events throughout the state of Paraíba. So we need to increasingly strengthen this vocation. Recognize and value the great potential of each region to develop the interiorization of Tourism".

The president of PBTur, Ferdinando Lucena, stressed that the support of the Tourist Trade is paramount in any scenario of regional development and highlighted that "Paraíba is going through a process of crossing, of tourist innovation and strengthening its territorial branding.

Three panels were part of the programming schedule for the first edition of the Forum, which brought together professionals who are in the decision-making process of public policies for economic development through tourism.

Fomtur brought together state and municipal public managers, in addition to liberal professionals, businessmen and specialists, who took the opportunity to expand their network of contacts and promote the exchange of knowledge and experiences, stimulating innovation and the development of the sector.

The opening panel was given by Ana Carla Moura, from the MTur Regionalization Program, who addressed Governance and the Alliance for the Development of Tourism and praised the work carried out by the management of Paraíba in the sector. “Paraíba listens to people and works together. This is extremely important because every time we listen, we have more ideas.

In the Good Practices and Success Cases Panel, the Secretary of Tourism of Fortaleza (CE), Alexandre Pereira, president of the National Association of Municipal Tourism Secretaries and Directors (Anseditur), presented movements carried out by the municipal management to attract more tourists to the capital of Ceará, always positioned in the ranking of the five most popular destinations. He stressed that municipalities need to train tourism agents so that they please visitors who prefer to travel within the country.

"In the Northeast, we don't have foreign tourism. Of the six million foreign visitors who travel to Brazil, half go to the South of the country. So our salvation is domestic tourism. Brazil is continental and we have to understand that this needs to be a public policy to strengthen the interiorization of Tourism", he commented.

The panel with the last speaker had the international participation of the president of the Strategic Center for Territorial Innovation in Portugal, economist Cristóvão Monteiro. He brought some of the experience of Tourism in the public management of the sister country and demystified that it is not necessary to have a lot of money to develop innovation, but good ideas.

And it was to the rhythm of a lot of regional forró that the music band Duarte Machado, from the city of Santa Luzia, closed Fomtur, inviting those present to enjoy the 'tourist drag' in Paraíba.