Visit Manaus car

Team Brasil achieved a very creditable 2nd in the 3rd race of the Superleague Formula race day in Holland, and now sit in 5th place overall. This despite the fact that it was driver Antonio Pizzonia´s first experience of the circuit and his first race in single-seaters for 18 months – this bodes well for the season.

Antonio commented: “I’m really happy and we saw today that Superleague Formula produces the best racing! It’s amazing to race against these guys and the five-lap shootout was incredible. I tried to pass Craig (Dolby) and maybe I should have been more aggressive, but I used the push-to-pass in the wrong place twice. I love racing for Brazil and I know a lot of people are following me, so I have to do my best not only for me, but also my country. The people back home will be very happy and it will be a big boost for the series when we go to Brazil later in the year.” (source: www.superleagueformula.com)

The next race will be in Belgium on 16th July.

Visit Manaus car in Superleague Formula 2011

Team Brasil Superleague Formula car

You can now follow the Visit Manaus Formula Superleague 2011 car via the website.

Enjoy…

2010 Amazon Tourism Statistics

Statsitics released by the state agency Amazonastur recently, show that Manaus received 600,000 tourists in 2010, staying on average 3 nights in the city. The most popular attraction in the city was the theatre, and the most popular destination outside the city was the town of Presidente Figueredo, which received 58,000 visitors.

The chief complaints registered were in the following categories:

• public highways
• tour guides
• tourist information
• public transport

When we can get a copy of the full report, I’ll try to post up any information which could be of use/interest.

Brazilian Consumer Organisation puts TAM to flight

PROCON, the official state consumer protection organisation, has fined Brazilian airline

Manaus Airport (source aviacao.com)

TAM R$100,000 for its failure to treat customers fairly. Amongst the problems related by their report were: lack of information, inadequate customer support, and a 40.4% incidence of flight delays greater than 30 minutes.

Manaus airport has the worst record on flight delays in Brazil, with an average of 48% of flights delayed in 2010.

But all is not lost. In January 2011, work will begin on extending Manaus airport with a new passenger terminal and a new runway. This is aimed at the predicted increase in tourists leading up to the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016, although the airport in fact has already reached near-capacity – in 2010 it processed some  43,000 flights and 2.2m passengers  (its maximum capacity is 2.5m ), up 20% on 2009.

Unfortunately of course, the work on the airport – starting in january 2011 and scheduled  for completion in 2013 – is likely to increase rather than reduce service disruption in the short term – so be prepared.

Welcome to the Visit Manaus blog

Here you will find observations, comments and updates relevant to the content of the main Visit Manaus website and the Visit Manaus forum. We hope you will find it useful and welcome comments either here on the blog, on the forum, or by email to Visit Manaus.

It being 24th December, we would like to wish all our visitors past and present a very merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous new year.