Brazil: TAP flights will increase by 20 percent number of tourists in Minas Gerais

Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Feb. 13 - The flight of the Portuguese airline TAP between Lisbon and Belo Horizonte to increase by 20 percent the number of foreign tourists in the state of Minas Gerais, said Tuesday entrepreneurs in the sector.

The start of direct flight on Monday, has generated expectations among entrepreneurs in the sector of tourism, particularly the historic cities of Minas Gerais that preserve a heritage of Portuguese origin.

"Our expectations are the best possible because the Portuguese have a chance to learn the historic cities of Minas Gerais that are mainly Portuguese," said the Portuguese news agency Lusa the entrepreneur Carlos Teixeira Niquini.

Owner of the Solar do Rosario, a construction of the nineteenth century, in Ouro Preto, 90 kilometers from Belo Horizonte, Carlos Teixeira Niquini is completing a work of restoration of the hotel.

Currently, Minas Gerais, the third largest regional economy, behind only the states of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, exports around 100 million dollars per year to Portugal.

With the start of the new route, TAP is replaced by 65 weekly direct flights between Portugal and Brasilia, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Natal, Recife, Salvador, Belo Horizonte and Fortaleza.