Today, August 28, FGV Press, is promoting the launch of the book History of Tourism in Brazil, whose organizers are the director of FGV's School of Social Sciences (CPDOC), Celso Castro; deputy professor of the tourism course at Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), Valeria Lima Guimarães; and the coordinator of the Research Division of the National Historical Museum, Aline Montenegro Magalhães.  The work brings together 15 articles in Portuguese which give a new vision on the history of national tourism. Divided into two parts - Rio de Janeiro state and other regions of the country - the book shows that the destinations, tourism public policies and the forms of operation and advertising are the results of processes that involve tensions and contradictions within Brazilian society and the international context in different moments of recent history. Celso Castro - also one of the co-authors of the work - examines the development of Rio de Janeiro as a tourist destination. According to him, this story started in the beginning of the last century. We've obviously had travelers coming to Brazil for tourism since early times, but I think that tourism as an organized commercial activity - that is, with professional guides, leisure hotels, travel agencies, public organizations, etc. - emerged at the beginning of the 20^th century. The book shares a good part of this story, he says.  The publication also has the objective of encouraging the development ­of new research on the history of tourism in Brazil. In this respect, Celso emphasizes the importance of the activity to the country. International tourism to Brazil has never been very significant in quantitative terms, despite its consistent increase in recent years. The national self-representation; however, as a beautiful country which is 'naturally' oriented toward tourism has always been strong, explains the director.  Besides Celso Castro, CPDOC's professors, Bianca Freire-Medeiros and Julia O'Donnell, also sign chapters of the book. History of Tourism in Brazil will be launched at 6:30 pm at FGV's Library, which is located at Rua Jornalista Orlando Dantas, No. 44, in Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro.  The event - open to the public - will be attended by the organizers and authors of the work.  Please click here to visit the page of the book on the Publisher's website (page in Portuguese).