After tragedy, Capitólio (MG) struggles to win back tourists

The dam at the Furnas hydroelectric plant, in Minas Gerais, reached its highest level since July 2016. The flooding of the reservoir is good news for tourism in the 34 cities bathed by the lake. But Capitolio, the main tourist destination in the region, is still struggling to win back tourists after part of a canyon breaks loose, hits speedboats and causes ten deaths.

According to Lucas Barros, Capitólio’s secretary of sustainable economic development, responsible for the tourism sector, there has been a huge drop in demand for the city as a tourist destination. He says that an impact factor was the lack of information about the attractions of the municipality.

“As soon as the accident happened, we closed a place, an attraction [os cânions], but it was widely reported that the Capitol was closed to tourism. We were never closed to tourism,” he says.

Other factors contributed to the negative impact: heavy rains that hit Minas Gerais and damaged roads; and the high number of Covid cases in the country.

This Carnival, according to the secretary, people from nearby cities are expected to look for Capitólio as a last-minute destination due to improved weather conditions.

Bruno Maia, owner of a receptive tourism agency in the city, says that the movement for Carnival is still very weak and reflects the many cancellations made since January.

“We are going through a very difficult situation, the fatality in the canyons destroyed an entire tourism network”, says the businessman. According to him, all packages scheduled for January, February and March have been cancelled. For April, only one is kept, for now.

To try to resume the tourist movement in the region, Bruno and other people who work in the sector organized an event last week, aimed at owners of tourism agencies across the country.

The objective was to take tourism agents to the city, to get to know the attractions and show that tourism in the city is working. The event brought together 150 agencies from four states and was supported by the city halls of Capitólio and São José da Barra.

“For us to recover here, we have to take an attitude and I believe that this initiative we have will have a very positive effect. We managed to show that the Furnas lake region is working and that safety here is essential and comes first. place”, says the businessman.

The state government also develops actions for the resumption of tourism in the region, in partnership with city halls and other bodies such as Civil and Military Police, Firefighters, Civil Defense and Navy. In early February, the project “Reviva Capitólio – Viva o Mar de Minas” was launched.

“The action is part of the Reviva Turismo program and encompasses topics such as planning, training and regulation of use and occupation of the canyons and their waters, with the objective of promoting the safety of workers and tourists, in addition to strengthening tourism in the region”, says the government in note.

The project has an investment of R$ 5 million. The first phase, which is ongoing, consists of detailed geological and structural assessments of the location.

According to Lucas Barros, the increase in the level of the Furnas lake could boost the resumption of tourism. He says that Capitólio has had a strong tourist growth since 2014 and that, since then, the dam has rarely been as full as it is now, which makes the natural beauties even more prominent.

Last year, Furnas registered very low levels, having the lowest useful volume for the month of September since the 2001 blackout. Even so, the city still attracted many tourists. On holidays, the population quadrupled, before the tragedy.

Currently, the height recorded in Lake Furnas is 765 meters above sea level and with a useful volume of 76.78%, according to data from the National Electric System Operator (ONS).

The Furnas Plant reported that it was operating in accordance with the ONS order, with an energy generation of around 615 MW, which corresponds to 51% of the installed capacity, which is 1,216 MW.

According to Alago (Association of Municipalities of Lago de Furnas), the ideal level to be maintained in the lake is 762 meters above sea level, so that economic activities such as tourism and fish farming are not harmed.

For Fausto Costa, executive secretary of Alago, it is important to keep control of the flow of water for the generation of electricity, so that the lake does not fall below this level in the period of water scarcity and the maintenance of the multiple use of water is guaranteed. .

“Our region, if it has water, is enough to generate wealth and serve the social part as much as it generates dividends from hydroelectricity. We have enormous potential, but we can only develop tourism with a full lake and with planning, because tourism it is an activity that takes medium to long term to reap the rewards”, says the secretary of Alago.