EMBRATUR Introduces New Online Experience for Tourists

SAO PAULO, March 3 /PRNewswire/ -- The Brazilian Tourist Board, EMBRATUR, announced today along with Google Brazil, the world's first Google/YouTube brand channel uniquely combining videos and Google maps to provide an interactive online Brazilian tourism experience. Now accessible at www.youtube.com/visitbrasil, the site currently features more than 85 videos from Brazil. This is the first convergence of its kind involving Google Maps into YouTube to date.

"While other destinations simply have video brand channels, this combination channel designed for Brazil offers innovation and experiential reviews for travelers because of our integration with Google Maps," says Jeanine Pires, president of EMBRATUR. "Our goal is to allow travelers to experience Brazil before they arrive. We want the world to know Brazil as a modern destination, one that starts international trends online, as we know many tourists look to these sources. Foreigners may not know Brazil is a 'continental' country and for the first time, we are showing our destinations' diversity through videos and maps."

To ensure users across the world understand the videos, they are subtitled in many languages. More than six months of work with YouTube and Google's teams went into building the site, and it will evolve with additions and modifications, including a new functionality allowing user-uploaded videos in early spring.

"We're so excited to launch the world's first mashup of Google Maps and YouTube videos with EMBRATUR, featuring such a diverse destination as Brazil," said Alex Dias, General Manager of Google Brazil. "EMBRATUR approached us about creating something new and unique last year for the online tourism space and we created this platform to meet their needs. The combination of Google and YouTube's innovative technology truly brought the project to life."

As host of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games, Brazil is positioned to gain heightened promotion as a global tourism destination before, during and after the events. To help define tourism goals for 2010 and beyond, EMBRATUR has created the Aquarela Plan 2020, setting forth objectives over the next ten years.

Among other tactics, the Brazil brand channel is designed to help achieve these goals by helping travelers experience Brazil in a brand new interactive way, providing the most realistic experience possible without actually being there.

Goals of the Aquarela plan include:

• A 113 percent increase in international tourism from 2010 to 2020, bringing 11.1 million foreign visitors to Brazil
• Increase foreign spending by 304 percent within Brazil, totaling $17.6 billion.
• An increase totaling 500,000 tourists in Brazil in 2014 and a 15 percent increase in 2016, the year of the Olympic Games in Rio, in relation to the previous year.
• Maintain sustained growth of at least one percentage point above the average growth rate in South America.
• Consolidate tourism leadership in South America, with 27 percent share of the tourists on the continent.

Americans are main targets of Brazil's tourist promotion as the United States is the second largest source of tourists to Brazil behind Argentina. In 2008, 625,506 American tourists visited Brazil noting sun and beach as the top reason for leisure travelers at 33.7 percent. Culture was also an important driver at 27.3 percent and importantly, 94.6 percent of American visitors noted they intend to return.

About EMBRATUR

The mission of the Brazilian Tourism Board, EMBRATUR, is to promote Brazil in the international market as a destination for travelers. The Brazilian Federal Government and EMBRATUR have implemented the Aquarela Plan which calls for generating consumer awareness about Brazil and attracting more tourists. The established target for the U.S. sector is increasing the annual numbers for tourists entering the country to 9 million, and attracting a total amount of $8 billion in revenue by 2010. There are nine EMBRATUR offices globally including Lisbon (Portugal), Paris (France), London (U.K.), Frankfurt (Germany), Madrid (Spain), Milan (Italy) and Tokyo (Japan). There is also a Bureau for Tourism for Latin America, based at the EMBRATUR office, in the city of Brasilia. For more information visit www.braziltour.com and visit the Newsroom.

About Google Inc.

Google's innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google's targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.

About YouTube

YouTube is the world's most popular online video community allowing millions of people to discover, watch and share originally-created videos. YouTube provides a forum for people to connect, inform and inspire others across the globe and acts as a distribution platform for original content creators and advertisers large and small. YouTube, LLC is based in San Bruno, CA and is a subsidiary of Google Inc.

SOURCE EMBRATUR