- The global COVID pandemic just became a local issue in Brazil when the minister of tourism concluded the virus is a punishment from Heaven to condemn scenes shown at the world-famous Brazilian carnival
- UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili had cut a deal with Brazil in return for Brazil voting for him making the Brazilian minister a global tourism player and trendsetter.
- A Canadian journalist for the Globe tweeted: This minister, like everyone in this government, is a disgrace.
COVID is a heavenly punishment against showing what a Brazilian Tourism Minister calls offensive behavior at the famous Brazilian carnival.
Obviously His Excellency, the Hon. Minister of Tourism Gilson Machado Guimarães Neto, commonly known as Gilson Machado Neto could not have based this conclusion on science.
He is a Brazilian entrepreneur and politician, and the current Minister of Tourism for Brazil under the government of Jair Bolsonaro. He replaced y Marcelo Álvaro Antônio.
The official took the position as a minister in December 2020 after more than a year as General Director of the Brazilian Agency for International Tourism Promotion (Embratur), where he worked in the promotion of Brazilian tourism abroad and, more recently, during the pandemic. in the national promotion. Before assuming the presidency of Embratur, in May 2019, he was the National Secretary of Ecotourism of the Ministry of the Environment (MMA).
Brazil will host the first office of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in the Americas region, according to the entity’s secretary-general, Zurab Pololikashvili. “I could have gone to the United States, I could have gone to the Caribbean, I could have gone to Argentina, but no, [the WTO] chose Brazil because it knows the potential we have,” he said. The true reason is Brazil was promised positioning by the UNWTO Secretary-General to secure his vote at the just concluded UNWTO election, which many said was based on fraud and manipulation.
A member of the Rota dos Milagres tourism union and the Maragogi Convention Bureau (AL), Machado Neto graduated in veterinary medicine, but it was in tourism that he found his vocation, working in the sector for more than 30 years. At 52, Gilson is also an entrepreneur, event producer, and musician.
The Carnival is big business for tourism in Brazil, but the current minister obviously has a different approach.
Here is a tweet by the minister posted today:
Brazil’s tourism minister is suggesting the coronavirus pandemic is a punishment from God after a Carnival parade made a depiction of Jesus he considered offensive.
Given how much the Brazilian tourism industry normally makes from Carnival – which would be happening now – and is currently losing, this might not be the smartest move from a tourism minister.
A tweet by a Canadian reporter states: I read today a terribly sad story about the economic devastation in Recife/Olinda without the celebration. Also his week I’ll publish a piece at The Globe and Mail about the situation in Rio. This minister, like everyone in this government, is a disgrace.
