Sao Paulo, Brazil, 13 Dec – The state of Bahia in north-eastern Brazil, one of the country’s main tourist detinations, is due to receive 8.5 billion reals (US$3.97 billion) of investment in tourism by 2020, the region’s tourism director said Tuesday.

According to Cláudio Taboada, president of Bahiatursa, a publicly-owned company responsible for promoting tourism to the State, Bahia currently has 43 international flights per week, with daily links to Lisbon, via TAP Air Portugal, and immediate links to the most important European cities.

Taboada said that the number of foreign tourists to the region by 2020 could total 4 million, which was a “considerable increase” in relation to the 717,000 recorded in 2005.

The projection of Bahiatursa’s plan is that the state will receive a total of 22 million Brazilian and foreign tourists that are expected to generate revenues of around 6 million euros for the sector.

“For that we are counting on foreign partnerships and investments in the sector, particularly from Portugal,” said the president of Bahiatursa.

Currently, the largest Portuguese hotel groups, such as Pestana, Vila Galé, Reta Atlantico, Somague and Alexandre de Almeida, have investments in the state of Bahia.

“The aim is to make Bahia, in the next 15 years, the most sought-after destination in Brazil and one of the main ones in Latin America,” Taboada noted. (macauhub)