46% of foreign tourists who visit the shanty towns (favelas) look for a different view of the city from the top of the hills. As for Brazilian tourists, 47% who visit the communities seek to know the culture, reality and the people who live there. These are some of the data revealed by the research commissioned by the Ministry of Tourism to the Tourism Center of FGV Projetos, and carried out by Professor Bianca Freire-Medeiros.

The FGV study gathers information that guides the implementation of activities of a touristic nature that generate employment and income in pacified communities, and develop an action plan model that enables the identification of tourism potentials and the structuring of some kind of tourist activity in these communities.

The survey was released after the announcement this week of an agreement between the Rio de Janeiro state government and the federal government to promote tourism in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. The partnership's main objective is to qualify and attract tourism professionals to these areas, providing infrastructure and resources required in order to make the activity attractive, profitable and to contribute to the revitalization of the communities.

According to the study, despite the positive experiences reported by visitors about the local architecture (55.9%), the view of the city (41.1%) and the knowledge of social projects (34.9%), only 36.6 % of foreign tourists bought a product during their visit and the expenses were relatively small, not reaching 5 Brazilian Reais. Approximately 40.6% of the tourists who didn't buy anything mentioned, among other things, that they weren't offered any items or that they didn't see any stores during the visit.

The study also shows that although for most visitors the tour represents a new experience, more than half say they know people who have previously visited shanty towns, including ones in other parts of the world.