Paiter suruí creates Brazil’s first indigenous tourism agency – 02/21/2024 – Tourism

In the year in which global tourism intends to surpass pre-pandemic levels, Brazil will gain its first tourism agency created and maintained by indigenous peoples in the Amazon.

The project, which will come to fruition throughout this year, aims to expand the structure, increase and train the team and implement a virtual visitation experience to Yabnaby, the tourist space maintained by the Paiter Suruí people in the Sete de Setembro Indigenous Land, near Cacoal , 480 km from Porto Velho, in Rondônia.

Opened last year as part of a 50-year management plan for the Suruí territory, Yabnab has a reception and two “bungalocas” (a mix of bungalow and hollow) that can receive up to 5 people each, simultaneously.

The accommodation package includes traditional local food, river bathing, dancing, storytelling, boat trips, forest trails and experience with the productive activities already established in the region, such as coffee and cocoa plantations and oil extraction. and other products that are sold to the cosmetics industry.

Celebrities such as presenter Luciano Huck and singer Xamã have stayed there but, for a good part of the year, the space is idle — mainly because of the distance from urban centers, the prices of air transport there and the difficulties in promoting the place as a tourist destination. But, recently, the space received an investment of R$522,000 that promises to transform this reality, taking more and more tourists to the heart of the forest.

The contribution came from the Priority Bioeconomy Program (PPBio), a federal public policy that transfers resources to startups that industries in the Manaus Free Trade Zone are obliged to invest in return for tax incentives. With it, the Paiter Suruí intend to expand the bungalocas, train 30 young indigenous people in hospitality, entrepreneurship and management and create digital tools and strategies to promote Yabnaby.

Today, for example, anyone who wants to visit the space needs to get in touch via Instagram or WhatsApp; In the future, however, a dedicated website will contain all reservations, in addition to showing details about what it’s like to stay on indigenous land. For those who are unable to travel to the interior of Rondônia, the program will also create a virtual visiting experience — as a preview of the real experience of interacting with economic activities and the local way of life.

“Tourism in indigenous lands is something new for tourism and also for our people, who are understanding that this is a way of generating employment and sustainable income not only for the indigenous people, but for the entire region”, explains Almir Suruí, leader of the Paiter Suruí people and internationally awarded for his fight in favor of the forest and the people who live in it — who, in their understanding, are one thing.

The chief recalls that, in the 1980s, his own people were involved in the illegal removal of wood from the forest. But, in 1994, upon realizing the unsustainability of that activity, his father, then chief, decided to put an end to it. Not by decree, but with a strategic territorial management plan for the next 50 years, developed collectively with more than 2,000 people and finalized in 2000. The document has become a global reference for sustainable development and, among its 12 axes of action , there was tourism.

The first investment to start developing tourism in the Sete de Setembro Indigenous Land, of R$490 thousand, only came in 2019, through development projects linked to the Amazon Fund. The money was used to structure the tourist space, including the construction of bungalows. Now, with the new investment from PPBio, the idea is to boost Yabnaby — which could even transmit the knowledge acquired in this process to other peoples and villages, expanding the impact of the program.

“Traditional communities are at the mercy of changes in nature and therefore need greater diversification in income generation to have financial stability”, explains Paulo Simonetti, PPBio’s fundraising and investor relations leader. “In addition to generating employment, tourism creates environmental awareness and a greater connection with that territory, which becomes seen as more than just a source of raw materials. Those who visit begin to have a more social relationship with the place, understanding the complexity of the people there.”