Interview with Eduardo Cruvinel
President of Belotur – Belo Horizonte Tourism Office (Brazil)
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Eduardo Cruvinel
President of Belotur – Belo Horizonte Tourism Office (Brazil)
Eduardo Cruvinel holds a Master’s degree in Built Environment and Sustainable Heritage from the School of Architecture and Urbanism at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), as well as a specialization in Public Policy, and Bachelor’s degrees in Tourism and Public Administration. With over 20 years of professional experience, has been dedicated to the development of tourism in Belo Horizonte, contributing to the strengthening and professionalization of the sector.
Throughout this career, has built solid expertise in project design, implementation, and monitoring, the organization of technical and scientific events, the coordination of studies and research, and strategic planning and management. Acts as Belo Horizonte’s focal point in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network for Gastronomy.
Currently serves as President of Belotur, where continues to lead initiatives that promote innovation, creative processes, gastronomy, and the sustainable development of tourism in Belo Horizonte.
Belo Horizonte has consolidated a tourism image strongly linked to culture, gastronomy, and sustainability. What strategies is Belotur implementing to strengthen this identity while diversifying the city’s tourism offer toward new segments and innovative visitor experiences?
Our main strategy is to identify, foster, and promote the elements that truly differentiate Belo Horizonte as a tourism destination—those that are unique, distinctive, and genuinely representative of the city’s identity.
Based on this recognition, Belotur works to enhance and qualify the tourism offer through close collaboration with organized civil society, the tourism industry, and local cultural and creative stakeholders. This integrated approach strengthens Belo Horizonte’s already established attributes—such as culture, gastronomy, and its commitment to sustainability—while simultaneously encouraging diversification by incorporating new segments, innovative experiences, and tourism products aligned with the creative economy and the city’s contemporary vocation.
Through strategic promotion and qualified communication actions, we seek to expand national and international recognition of Belo Horizonte as a creative, authentic, and constantly evolving destination, capable of offering diverse and memorable experiences to different visitor profiles.
In recent years, Brazil’s intermediate cities have gained prominence in domestic tourism. How is Belo Horizonte positioning itself within this new national tourism landscape, and what role does Belotur play in this strategy of sustainable consolidation and promotion?
Belo Horizonte is positioning itself as a creative destination with significant potential still to be explored, grounded in authentic experiences and the hospitality that characterizes the city. Belotur’s role is to provide visibility, structure, and promotion for what is produced locally, strengthening the destination’s identity in a sustainable manner.
Minas Gerais cuisine is internationally recognized as a cultural and heritage attraction. How is Belotur working to integrate local gastronomy into its tourism development strategy and generate direct benefits for producers, chefs, and associated rural communities?
Gastronomy has always been recognized as a key asset of Belo Horizonte. However, following the city’s designation as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy and its integration into this international network, new commitments emerged, along with the need to further integrate the various actors within this sector, which has become one of the city’s main drivers of tourism attractiveness.
In all gastronomy-related initiatives, Belotur conducts consultations and actively involves stakeholders in decision-making and implementation, ensuring that actions generate tangible returns for participants. Belotur acts as a facilitating and fostering institution, having promoted events, hackathons, sponsorship calls, training and capacity-building programs, as well as national and international promotion, all with the active involvement of the entire value chain.
Sustainable and responsible tourism has become a global priority. What concrete policies or programs has Belotur promoted to ensure balanced tourism growth that respects the environment, local identity, and the well-being of the city’s residents?
For us it has to be as an integrated manner with the city’s climate resilience program, using events as platforms for the implementation of concrete actions. These include carbon offset initiatives, socially inclusive waste management programs, tree planting, pilot projects with universities, and the development of specific sustainability protocols.
Belo Horizonte has hosted major cultural, sports, and business events. How does Belotur leverage these events to strengthen the city’s international image and attract sustainable investments that leave a lasting legacy for the local community?
We want to ensure that events function as drivers for destination promotion, encouraging longer stays and the offering of authentic local experiences. The focus is on generating lasting economic, social, and cultural legacies, expanding international visibility, and increasing benefits for the local community.
Technological innovation is transforming the way destinations are managed and promoted. How is Belotur applying digital tools, data analysis, and artificial intelligence to optimize tourism planning, enhance visitor experience, and anticipate emerging market trends?
Belotur has been incorporating digital tools and data analysis to support tourism planning, monitor events, improve destination promotion, and enhance visitor experiences. Data-driven insights enable trend forecasting, informed decision-making, and more efficient and strategic actions.
Recently, a pilot project was conducted to measure visitor flow at three tourist attractions within the Pampulha Modern Ensemble, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Between February and October 2025, approximately two million unique visitors were recorded—data that will support the development of digital tools aimed at facilitating and improving visits to these sites.
In a global context where digitalization is redefining the relationship between tourists and destinations, what specific innovations is Belo Horizonte implementing to improve access to tourism information, connectivity, and smart promotion at the international level?
Belo Horizonte has been investing in the digitalization of tourism information, enhanced connectivity during major events, and smart promotion strategies. These efforts expand the city’s international visibility through digital channels, segmented content, and strategic partnerships.
Urban tourism faces the challenge of balancing the visitor experience with residents’ quality of life. What measures is Belotur adopting to ensure that Belo Horizonte’s tourism development also benefits its citizens and local communities?
Belotur prioritizes balanced tourism development by promoting events and experiences that generate economic, social, and cultural benefits for local residents, with careful attention to the use of public spaces, sustainability, and community well-being. One key measure is the decentralized distribution of events and initiatives across the city, ensuring respectful and responsible occupation of urban spaces.
Public–private partnerships are essential for destination competitiveness. What types of collaboration is Belotur fostering with the private sector, universities, and cultural organizations to promote innovation, sustainable development, and the internationalization of local tourism?
Since 2017, Belotur has intensified partnerships focused on innovation, professional training, knowledge production, and the development of new tourism products. Universities, private-sector stakeholders, and cultural agents are actively involved in projects, events, studies, and promotional initiatives, supported by legal instruments that formalize cooperation and align shared objectives.
Regarding international promotion, which main source markets is Belotur currently prioritizing, and what differentiated strategies are being applied to attract foreign tourists interested in culture, gastronomy, events, and sustainable urban experiences?
Belotur prioritizes Latin American and European markets, with a particular focus on Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Spain. These markets show strong alignment with cultural, gastronomic, event-based, and sustainable urban tourism.
Strategies include segmented promotion, participation in international agendas, institutional articulation, network-based cooperation, international affiliations, closer collaboration with Embratur—the Brazilian Tourism Board—and the strengthening of Belo Horizonte’s image as a creative and sustainable destination. We are building narratives that highlight the city’s strengths through creative content, experiential showcases such as live cooking demonstrations, and improved access to information.
Creative tourism and the cultural economy are gaining ground in many Latin American cities. What initiatives has Belo Horizonte developed to encourage the participation of artists, entrepreneurs, and cultural collectives within its overall tourism and branding strategy?
Through public calls and funding mechanisms, events, training actions, and promotional initiatives, Belo Horizonte integrates local cultural production into its tourism strategy. The focus is on transforming cultural expression into authentic tourism experiences that generate income and reinforce local identity. Strengthening local production is a priority, and even when external guests are involved, representatives from Belo Horizonte are always present to showcase local practices and content.
Modern tourism management requires reliable data and continuous analysis. How does Belotur use data intelligence, demand studies, and digital tools to guide strategic decision-making and enhance the destination’s competitiveness?
Decision-making at Belotur is grounded in the Belo Horizonte Tourism Observatory, which is responsible for the continuous production of open data, demand research, event monitoring, and visitor flow and profile analysis. These studies support strategic planning, destination promotion, sponsorship attraction, investment qualification, and media engagement. All processes are conducted by a highly qualified technical team, ensuring evidence-based decisions and greater efficiency in public tourism policies.
Social sustainability is a central component of responsible tourism. What actions is Belotur promoting to foster inclusion, gender equality, and local capacity development within tourism-related activities in Belo Horizonte?
Belotur integrates social sustainability across its policies through public calls, training programs, partnerships with universities, support for cultural collectives, and the inclusion of local workers in tourism initiatives and events. Notable actions include engagement with waste pickers’ cooperatives, encouragement of women’s participation and local entrepreneurship within the tourism value chain, and the valorization of territories and communities in the development of tourism experiences.
Across all initiatives, Belotur actively seeks gender and racial parity to ensure diversity and representation reflective of the city.
Finally, how do you envision Belo Horizonte by 2030 as a global tourism destination, and what legacy do you hope to leave from Belotur in terms of sustainability, innovation, social cohesion, and the city’s international positioning?
By 2030, we aim to consolidate Belo Horizonte as a creative, sustainable, and inclusive urban destination, internationally recognized for its culture, gastronomy, events, and innovation. This vision is grounded in concrete Belotur deliverables, including the strategic management of major city events, the strengthening of Carnival as a cultural and economic asset, active participation in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network for Gastronomy, the implementation of funding, sponsorship, and training programs, and the incorporation of sustainability and social inclusion criteria into tourism policies and events.
The expected legacy is a more structured Belotur, with data-driven planning, collaborative governance involving the tourism sector, civil society, and academia, and actions with measurable social impact—positioning tourism as a driver of economic development, social cohesion, and the international recognition of Belo Horizonte’s identity.
We sincerely thank you, President Cruvinel, for sharing such a comprehensive and forward-looking vision of Belo Horizonte’s tourism development. Your insights highlight a destination that is not only creative and rooted in its cultural identity, but also firmly committed to sustainability, innovation, and social inclusion.
From the Tourism and Society Think Tank (TSTT), we express our strong interest in establishing collaborative initiatives with the city of Belo Horizonte and with the Government of Minas Gerais, one of the Brazilian states with the greatest potential for tourism expansion and international positioning. We are confident that, by working together, we can build new opportunities for knowledge exchange, institutional cooperation, and the promotion of experiences that reinforce Belo Horizonte’s role as a leading destination in Latin America.
It has been an honor to conduct this interview. We look forward to continuing this dialogue and developing future joint actions that will contribute to a more competitive, sustainable, and globally recognized Belo Horizonte.
The authors are responsible for the choice and presentation of the facts contained in this document and for the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of Tourism and Society Think Tank and do not commit the Organization, and should not be attributed to TSTT or its members.
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