The Embratur Lab, headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, was created to enhance competitiveness and environmental sustainability in the travel business. The unit was created in collaboration with Turistech Hub Brazil, a similar institution in Sao Paulo.
Roberto Gevaerd, Embratur’s Director of Management and Innovation, will be in charge of the Embratur Lab, which will assist tourism companies in identifying trends and consumer behaviour in order to personalise their offerings to match public demand.
“Our goal is to use technology to improve the experience of international tourists in Brazil,” Gevaerd said.
He added, “For this, we are going to invite and support startups to use Rio de Janeiro as a space to experiment with these new solutions and technologies. We want to transform Rio into a great technology laboratory for tourism.”
Embratur Lab will also be entrusted with developing green technology solutions to minimise tourism’s carbon impact, such as renewable energy, sustainable hotel operations, and responsible tourism practises.
“The city of Rio de Janeiro was chosen to start this project because it has a wide range of services related to tourism, from hosting large events to urban ecotourism in our mountains and forests, from religious tourism to party tourism,” Embratur president Marcelo Freixo said.
“It will be our first large laboratory to test innovations that will be used in tourist destinations throughout Brazil,” Freixo continued.
Freixo further stated that more facilities would be built in other locations around Brazil in collaboration with the commercial sector.
Tags: Roberto Gevaerd, Embratur, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Tourism, Marcelo Freixo
