Sustainable tourism is the concept of a country/destination developing through the help of tourism. The main areas that come into question when mentioning sustainable tourism are Economic, Socio-cultural and environment(ESE). In order for sustainability in a country/destination the three areas mentioned must have a suitable balance secured between ESE (Economic, Socio-cultural and environment) to guarantee long-term sustainability in the country/destination and when both the needs and wants of both the host country/destinations are both met then ESE and the host country/destination that tourist are visiting can both thrive and prosper. Brazil has a lot of attractions for tourists to visit in the country and thanks to hosting the FIFA world cup in 2014 it has seen the visits of tourists increase. Brazil is now seen as a holiday destination for tourists to experience the culture and all the fun that Brazil can offer tourist. However, behind every closed door, there is a story to tell (joys of Joel) this meaning that although Brazil is a beautiful city with breath taking statues and Monuments behind all the wonderful attractions are extreme problems that the country is hiding from tourists who are visiting the country. One of main problems is the drugs gang-ruled favelas that are covered in the hillsides of Rio De Janeiro. (responsible tourism in Brazil) these slums believe it or not are hidden just a hundred metres from Rio De Janeiro’s breath-taking sites. In order to clean up the slums and favelas in Brazil the government have a tough assignment as witness in the film city of God 2002 which is based on a true story which is told through the eyes of Buscape, a poor young fisherman’s son that dreams of becoming a famous photographer all that happens in the film is still occurring in Brazil today the shootouts with gangs and police , the drugs, the murders etc. with all that said the government has made certain movements in cleaning up the damage in the slums this being because Brazil is attracting a large of number of tourist nowadays that the government have come up with a scheme called “pacification”, sending well trained units into the slums to seize control of territories from gangs and make them safe, for locals in the area and tourists who may want to visit certain areas in Rio De Janeiro that may be gang populated. (responsible tourism in Brazil)
Brazil is still seen as a developing country even though it has the largest economy in all south America or central America however, the Gross Domestic Product(GDP) in the country is low this is due to poor living standards, high infant mortality rates (Investopedia 2018) brazil also has a high death rate, other factors that add to their worries which is hindering their developing stage i.e. lack of clean water, lack of health care, poor housing etc. Assuming that Brazil has plans of becoming a developed country the government in Brazil may consider observing developed countries like Latin American Neighbours Chile (Investopedia 2018) who have recently just become a developed country and are the only recognised country in south America to be known as a developed country. This may mean recommending changes in the country to better living conditions, clean water and the high death rate.
Economic, Social and Environmental negative & positive impacts
Brazil is seen as the main regional leader in Latin America to most people however its success in becoming a developed country has been somewhat hindered over the years due to the country’s Economic and social problems. According to Jorge Almeidas Brazil in Focus 2008 book, before president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took reigns of presidency in Brazil in 2003 the country had serious amount of public debt to pay it was seen as an obligation for Lula to adapt to strict economic polies in order to get Brazil out of serious debt with the public, despite all these problems President Lula with a politics background managed to maintain stable economic policies with the public even exceeding the International Monetary fund(IMF) fiscal and monetary targets. (Jorge Almeida 2008)
the results of these changes have benefited Brazil substantially, as the country began to witness some benefits, “lower inflation (just over 3% in 2006), and a lower “credit risk rating”. (Jorge Almeida 2008)
President Lula continued the doing the unthinkable in December 2005 the Brazilian Government repaid $15.5 Billion debt to the IMF well before it was scheduled to do so this reduced Brazils foreign debt by 19.9% between 2003 and 2006. As a result of the debt being paid ahead of schedule it enabled Brazil to post GDP Growth of 4.9% in 2004 and record trade excesses in 2004,2005, and 2006. (Jorge Almeida 2008) Brazil exports a huge amount of agricultural and industrial products that is used globally and the products accounts for 30% of Brazils exports and play a major role in the world trading system. Regardless of Brazil’s Economic positives the country is still trailing in economic growth to other rising economies. On account of this since 2000, Brazils growth rate has been an average 2.7%, comparing to Russia 6.7%, India 6.5% and china 9.4% in 2006. (Jorge Almeida 2008) a result of this could be the ongoing health problems in Brazil with the blood transfusions and the Chagas disease still circling round the country since 1975. However, the Chagas has been monitored and Brazil and other Latin American countries have also benefited thanks to the Chagas control programme being introduced (Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Vol. 104(Suppl. I), 2009). The programme has made drastic changes to the Brazilian people and other Latin American countries like Argentina, Bolivia and Chile that suffer from infested houses, the controlled programme has reduced the Chagas Disease for the past 11 years. it is similar to another programme that has been operated in Brazil since 1975, 711 towns were infested with T infestans. Ten years later after Brazil introduced the control programme only 186 towns were left infested by 1993 the programme reduced that deficit 83 towns in Brazil had T infestans this showed a reduction of 86% on control activities in Brazil by 2007 only 13 towns in Brazil had T infestans left in the houses after survey was done over the whole country. (Ms 2007)
The economic impact this did for Brazil has helped the country decrease the Chagas Disease the number of deaths from the disease reduced astonishingly from 200,000 in 1983 to 41,200 in 2006 although the programme cost the Brazil government altogether with all the other problems and situation going at the same time in Brazil around $237 million Dollars. In summary, the combined control activities that have reduced T infestans have to be maintained in order for the country to make serious steps in getting rid of the Chagas Disease once and for all and increase the growth rate in Brazil.
Brazil has benefited a considerable amount from tourism however, at the same time some of the environmental and social impacts in the country has not been done in a respectful fashion. Less developed countries like Brazil suffer greater impacts due to the frailty of their economic infrastructure and social systems. (social impacts of tourism in Brazil 2014) now and again destinations in certain countries are sold as tourism products this meaning the local communities in that destination have to switch their religious rituals, festivals and traditional ethic rites to comply with the governments money making scheme to attract tourists who already a certain expectation about the destination through travel agents or films they have seen who have scenes filmed in that certain destination.
This has a created a loss of purity in the country and destination as the government in Brazil has made destinations in the country adapt to these cultural expressions to entice tourists into thinking this is Brazil at all times hiding the fact that this is all show for tourists and not the real Brazil. The production of handicrafts in Brazil has also suffered the same cause as their religious rituals, festivals and traditional ethic rites as the products are made to satisfy tourist demands these meaning artisans have to change their designs, meaning they lose their traditional designs in the process and the method of production, this lowers costs, which means a huge loss to the artisans of handicraft. (Social impacts of tourism in Brazil 2014) this has made Brazil lose its real identity as the government only care more about benefiting from tourists and using the profit on the main cities that attract tourism to the country instead of using the profits to improve less developed cities, improving education and improving job training opportunities.
Another social impact that has somewhat benefited Brazil in ways is hosting the 2014 world cup. However, many Brazilians according to the global media were less pleased to hear about the news that the world cup would be hosted in their home city as they felt that most of the expenditure spent on the mega event and tourists coming over for the global event should have been spent on the country itself in improving services for the people who actually have lived in the country their entire life. (H. Tuppen & O’Neill. S 2014 world cup negative or positive Impact) hosting any type of mega event has huge repercussions Brazil should have taken in consideration what the London Olympics in 2012 achieved and maybe taken Pages out of the London Olympics on the how the games where brought to the UK to help revitalise communities around the UK, push social change and encourage a unique culture of volunteering work. (Cultural Impacts of hosting the Olympics 2018) this lead London to running a successful mega event as UK made the locals part of the movement created by the Olympics being hosted in London, this movement speaks for itself as it increased volunteerism London named their volunteers at the Olympic games Game markers the name helped attract 700,000 volunteers that were willing to give up their time to help out the country for the summer for the greater good.
When you compare these numbers of volunteers that helped at the London Olympics in 2012 to the world cup in Brazil 2014 the numbers are quite astonishing as Brazil the country as a whole only managed to attract 15,000 volunteers. The lack of attraction of volunteers made the month of the 2014 world cup for those 15,000 volunteers chosen a gruelling month as the volunteers where made to start preparations for the tournament ahead of schedule. (Ny times 2014) the problem for most volunteers was not money they just wanted to be given some benefits and being able to catch a game or two during the world cup some volunteers felt that the promises that they were given while applying to volunteer for the world cup were thrown out the window as soon as they arrived in Brazil. 1,100 international volunteers were left furious as they did not receive housing or having job training only in Portuguese which was included in the application form. Some other volunteers were left dejected with the lack of money given to them to use for transport to get themselves to stadiums and that they were only allowed one drink, a piece of fruit and one meal a day. (NY times 2014) overall the volunteers at the 2014 world cup in Brazil felt mistreated and used as pawns by the Brazil government for an event that would not have ran as smoothly as it did, and the Brazil Government has the volunteers to thank for that who were working at the mega event for free. Brazil where then given the opportunity to host another mega event straight after the world cup this being the 2016 Olympic games in Rio this was seen as sincere move by the International Olympics Committee (IOC) witnessing what Hosting the 2014 World Cup did for a country still considered in the development stage, even with the problems that occurred during Preparation the event was beneficial and successful to not just Brazil to South America as a whole as it showed off a part of the continent that the world was oblivious to.
Both mega events brought massive impacts socially for Brazil with programs being started for young children to stay off the streets and keep them away from gangs. Funders around the world made around $8,000 to send 6 professionally trained coaches to work in the most threatening places in Brazil near the favelas, this all happened during the world cup and the Olympic Games. More than 200 resident football coaches and teachers in different parts in Brazil learned to organize a sport curriculum that had strong talks about drugs, conflict and gender problems for 5000 children in the tough parts in Brazil. Furthermore, contributors learned how to create their specific games to make the program more understandable to the needs of the community and public in those places in Brazil. (voanews) The program was created for the next generation of Brazilians to know about global child rights, teach them how to decide a battle or war without violence and learning how to deal with gender-based violence and finding ways to solve these problems to ensure that the program keeps running successfully.