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Every weekend the group is a little larger than the last. Word of mouth works and more and more people gather at the foot of the statue of Mercedes Baptista, the first black dancer in the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro. It is the starting point for the African Heritage Circuit, which runs through the central Rio region known as Little Africa. Hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans disembarked in this port district and what is now known as Samba emerged in its alleys.
“Here people know the story that is not told, they understand the truth about the historical obscurity (of black history) in the city and in the country, it is a tourism that goes beyond the classics of Sugar Loaf and Christ of Corcovado “explains Rafael Moraes, one of the leaders of the Instituto dos Pretos Novos (IPN), which organizes these visits. The walk ends in a small house, now converted into a museum and headquarters of the IPN, where during some work a large number of bones emerged from underground. It turned out that these were the remains of the cemetery where slaves who had not withstood the crossing of the ocean were buried.
On a glass protecting a skeleton, Moraes announces his final declaration, a manifesto that connects Brazil’s painful past with the racist daily lives of black Brazilians. More than one visitor sheds tears. “I think there is a sense of mea culpa; “It’s a transformative cycle,” he says confidently. In 2019, almost 2,500 people chose this path. This year there are expected to be 15,000. The majority are Cariocas or Brazilians from other countries, but every now and then a foreigner shows up. The guide team is already working hard to offer the visit in several languages. This is just one example of a sector that is experiencing strong growth in Brazil despite numerous obstacles: Afrotourism.
Brazil is the country with the largest black population in the world outside of Africa (56% of Brazilians identify as black or mixed race) and interest in Brazil’s black culture and history is growing, especially in countries where the black population has more purchasing power , such as the United States or European countries. Many of these tourists are looking for an experience that they cannot find in traditional offerings.
The guide Rafael introduces and explains the history of the works that are part of the collection of the Instituto dos Pretos Novos.Leonardo Carrato
This was recognized a few years ago by Carlos Humberto Silva, CEO of Diaspora Black, a tourism start-up that acts as a consulting company, a portal for selling travel packages and a kind of Airbnb. All hosts are black or supporters of the anti-racist movement. The platform’s revenue increased 395% last year and is expected to earn more than 4 million reais ($800,000) by the end of this year. Those who seek it are tourists who, for example, want to learn about plant knowledge in Afro-Brazilian religions such as Candomblé, or delve into music such as Jongo and Maracatú, which are closely linked to slave resistance movements. Visits to quilombos, usually rural communities where the descendants of slaves who fled their masters live, are also becoming more common.
The community at the center
Then the red flag appears. The specter of gentrification and plasticization in the form of a theme park is there and everyone wants to avoid it, emphasizes Silva. “When we talk about Afrotourism, the community is at the center, it defines everything, what stories to tell, what spaces to visit… It’s not something from the outside in.” It’s the other way around, it’s a break with the colonialist model “That tells stories through others, it’s a movement that tells its own stories,” he says with conviction. His company even offers training so that people in the communities can act as tour guides themselves.
Another challenge is to ensure that the revenues from this thriving sector benefit its players. In Salvador de Bahía, the blackest city in the country (82% of its neighbors are of African descent), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has invested 15 million reais (almost three million dollars) in the Salvador Capital Afro project. Although it filled the city with courses, conferences, exhibitions and cultural events, there were some critical voices since a large part of the companies that won the tenders were, as always, in the hands of the same companies with the same white owners.
Two visitors look at a bust from the collection of the Instituto dos Pretos Novos in the Gamboa district of the city of Rio de Janeiro. Leonardo Carrato
The challenges are numerous. In colonial towns like Ouro Preto or Paraty, immaculate and always ready for photos, visits that focus on the beauty of architecture and the shine of baroque gold still predominate, tiptoeing through a past closely linked to slavery is. Other places where this past becomes physically visible, such as the Cais do Valongo in Rio (the remains of the dock through which almost a million slaves disembarked, the only physical evidence of the arrival of these Africans in the Americas), are often Victim of indifference. The archaeological site was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2017, but does not even appear on the city’s tourist maps and is poorly signposted.
Portrait of Leticia Santana at the Chez George Hotel, Rio de Janeiro.Leonardo Carrato
Leticia Santana, specialist in decolonial tourism, believes that Brazil, the eternal “land of the future” that always postpones everything until later, must hurry up so as not to miss the Afrotourism train, but emphasizes that we must be careful. The economic structures are the same as always and the danger is that “the blacks continue in the place of serving, playing drums, acting as entertainment venues,” says the director of the Georges’ Life group with boutique hotels in Maranhão and Rio. . Many guests appreciate this real protagonism, as he comments from the hotel’s enchanting garden in the Santa Teresa district of Rio de Janeiro. “A lot of people here tell me, ‘I didn’t think you were black. I’m relieved to know that you will understand me and care for me in a different way,'” she says of her black clients. The fear of racist experiences is one of the main factors that weigh when planning the trip, which is why it is not enough to “color” the photo, says Santana, who advocates for structural changes on a societal level to be put in the foreground.
The demand is there, but sometimes the administration’s response is not up to the task. From Embratur, the government agency responsible for promoting Brazil as a tourist destination, they promise that things will change after the four years of former President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration, during which the issue was never discussed. Now, for the first time, there is a dedicated department to promote this tourism segment and data is being collected to soon present a thorough X-ray picture of the sector. Last year, Brazil was the fifth most visited country in Latin America (3.6 million tourists), behind Mexico (the absolute leader with 38.3), the Dominican Republic (7.1) and Colombia (4.4) and Argentina (3.8). . Everyone agrees there is plenty of room for growth.
Next year, São Luís do Maranhão will host an international Afrotourism meeting. According to Embratur’s Diversity, Afrotourism and Indigenous Peoples Coordinator, Tania Neres, explained by phone that this is a unique opportunity to exploit Brazil’s potential in the face of foreign demand. “The biggest challenge is investing in Black entrepreneurs so they can become stronger owners of their own story,” he comments. For Neres, the trends in the industry are also an opportunity for Brazil to finally break away from the cliché of a sex tourism destination. Although there have been great advances in recent decades, this image still lives on in the minds of many foreigners and particularly affects the Afro-Brazilian population.
Rafael, guide of the African Heritage Tour, explains the history of Pedra do Sol, one of the main points of the tourist route.Leonardo Carrato