Caracas, June 18 (PL-RHC) -- Venezuelan Tourism Minister Andres Izarra highlighted the importance of developing the Manaos-Margarita Island axis to strengthen the movement of tourists from Brazil to Venezuela.

"This route is important, because it opens to a neighbour that stands 9th among the world's biggest tourism issuers," said Izarra at the Venetur Hotel (Puerto La Cruz) in a working meeting Tuesday.

On the importance of the project, he said "the most frequented beaches by Brazilian tourists coming from Manaos are not in Rio de Janeiro but in Venezuela.

Izarra assured that 98 percent of the visitors from Manaos, north of Brazil, are coming by bus or train, 43 percent of them complete families.

The Governors of the Venezuelan states of Anzoátegui, Aristóbulo Istúriz; Bolívar, Francisco Rangel, Nueva Esparta, Carlos Mata, and Maripili Hernandez, minister of the Strategic Region of Eastern Integral Defense, were present at the working meeting.

State officials agreed on everything that their respective territories can do in favor of the development of tourism from Brazil.

Tourism in Venezuela is considered among the 11 biggest drivers of the local economy.