BrazilMax
Bill Hinchbeger's online travel guide to Brazil
Street Address
Rua Teodoro Sampaio, 1020, Bloco Res, Apto. 1803
City
Sao Paulo
State/Province
SP
Postal/Zip Code
05406-050
Country
Brazil
Year innovation began
2001
Geotourism Challenge Addressed by Entrant
Quality of tourist experience and benefit to tourists
Place your video embed code here from YouTube, Google Video and other video sharing websites. How to embed a video from YouTube.
Indicate sector in which you principally work
Destination-stewardship business
Main insight addressed
Market authenticity
Geographic location
Urban.
Name Your Project
Describe Your Idea
What is the goal of your innovation?
To help prospective visitors decide where and how to travel in Brazil.
How does your approach support or embody geotourism?
Travelers need high quality, independent coverage – especially when analyzing community tourism destinations. They need to substantiate claims of sustainability. And they must feel comfortable that they will have an enjoyable and memorable vacation.
Describe your approach in detail. How is it innovative?
BrazilMax.com is an online travel guide that draws on founding editor Bill Hinchbeger’s two decades of experience as a foreign correspondent in Brazil. The portal can be described as a cross between a guidebook and a travel magazine. Sustainable and community tourism endeavors are featured as part of the mix, not isolated in a “politically correct” ghetto.
What types of partnerships or professional development would be most beneficial in spreading your innovation?
To ensure BrazilMax's survival, we need more advertising. To expand beyond Brazil, we have already begun discussions with independent journalists who are interested in setting up local franchises.
In one sentence describe what kind of impact, change, or reform your approach is intended to achieve.
We want to help responsible tourists plan their travel.
Describe the degree of success of your approach to date. Clearly define how you measure quantitative and qualitative impact in terms of how your approach contributes to the sustainability or enhancement of local culture, environment, heritage, or aesthetics? How does your approach minimize negative impacts? 200 words or less
BrazilMax.com won a “Best of the Web” citation from Transitions Abroad magazine and has been acclaimed in The Guardian of London, the SonntagsZeitung of Zurich, the Scotsman on Sunday, O Dia of Rio de Janeiro and other publications. Average daily traffic figures for 2008 through February 18: - unique visitors - 1,793 - pageviews - 6,929 - hits - 37,256
How does your program promote traveler enthusiasm, satisfaction, and engagement with the locale?
We help travelers find places that best fit their expectations.
Describe how your innovation helps travelers and local residents better understand the value of the area’s cultural and natural heritage, and educates them on local environmental issues. How do you motivate them to act responsibly in their future travel decisions?
The whole point of BrazilMax is to bring that kind of information to prospective travelers as they plan their trips. We can imagine that communities take greater pride in their local attractions when outsiders show interest.
In what ways are local residents actively involved in your innovation, including participation and community input? How has the community responded to or benefited from your approach?
Communities benefit when travelers visit destinations that are featured on BrazilMax.
Issue Selector
Is your initiative financially and organizationally sustainable? If not, what is required to make it so? What is the potential demand for your innovation?
BrazilMax generates a modest but steady stream of revenue, but not yet enough to allow founding editor Bill Hinchberger to focus full-time on the business. Growth depends on the time he can devote to the project. Demand should at least track the growth in foreign tourism to Brazil. Franchising opportunities could take the initiative to a global scale.
How is your initiative currently financed? If available, provide information on your finances and organization that could help others. Please list: Annual budget, annual revenue generated, size of part-time, full-time and volunteer staff.
Financing has come primarily in the form of sweat equity from founding editor Bill Hinchberger and his late wife Maruska. Hinchberger can count on a little pro bono help from his friends in the journalism world.
What is your plan to expand your approach? Please indicate where/how you would like to grow or enhance your innovation, or have others do so.
With sufficient revenue, Bill Hinchberger would devote his energies full-time to the project.
What are the main barriers you encounter in managing, implementing, or replicating your innovation? What barriers keep your program from having greater impact?
We need to focus on advertising sales.
Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers' marketing material.
Bill Hinchberger is the founding editor of BrazilMax (http://www.BrazilMax.com), an award-winning online travel guide to Brazil and host of BrazilMax Radio (http://www.brazilmax.com/brazilmax.cfm/id/17). A former correspondent for The Financial Times and Business Week, Hinchberger holds an M.A. in Latin American Studies and a B.A. in Political Science, both from the University of California, Berkeley. He is the former president of the São Paulo Foreign Press Club (1995-99) and a member of the ASJA and the Brazilian Studies Association (BRASA).
What is the origin of your innovation? Tell your story.
After a couple of decades in the mainstream media, including stints in Brazil with The Financial Times and Business Week, I became frustrated by my inability to publish stories I thought essential. I reinvented myself as an independent digital media entrepreneur – the founding editor and head janitor of an online guide for foreigners called BrazilMax.com.
Please write an overview of your project. This text will appear when people scroll over the icon for your entry on the Google map located on the competition homepage.
BrazilMax (http://www.BrazilMax.com) is an online travel guide that features sustainable and community tourism. It won a “Best of the Web” citation from Transitions Abroad magazine and has been acclaimed in The Guardian of London, the SonntagsZeitung of Zurich, the Scotsman on Sunday, O Dia of Rio de Janeiro and other publications. BrazilMax Radio - http://www.brazilmax.com/brazilmax.cfm/id/17 - features Brazilian music and interviews with musicians and other artists in English. Founding editor Bill Hinchberger is a former correspondent in Brazil for The Financial Times and Business Week. To receive BrazilMax OnTime, an e-newsletter with alerts about new content on BrazilMax, send a blank message to: BrazilMax-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
 | Ron Mader said: I am slowly adding some maps to Planeta. There are a number of options, including Google Maps. For examples, check ... about this idea. - 529 days ago read more > |
| Bill Hinchberger said: Publishing and/or linking to good quality, useful maps is a real challenge. I think maps are one realm where print still beats online. ... about this idea. - 530 days ago read more > |
| Ron Mader said: What sort of maps do you use on BrazilMax? Also, what sort of improvements/changes in terms of mapping do you forsee in the near future ... about this idea. - 532 days ago read more > |
| Bill Hinchberger said: I'd like to thank everyone who has made the time and effort to post comments here. We look forward to seeing you on BrazilMax - and in ... about this idea. - 538 days ago read more > |
| Bill Montague said: BrazilMax is one of the best, if not the best, travel sites I have come across on the web -- not just because of the quality of the ... about this idea. - 557 days ago read more > |
| Bill Hinchberger said: ... I'd be happy to talk. What's the URL of your website? Bill Hinchberger about this idea. - 567 days ago read more > |
| Leonie Johnsen said: Hi Bill, great site. I am interested in connecting with you as I have a website and eco-travel guide to New Zealand. Your website has ... about this idea. - 570 days ago read more > |
| Jeff Steiner said: Hello, I've never been to Brazil but if I did go, BrazilMax would be the first place I'd look for information. Not only can BrazilMax ... about this idea. - 591 days ago read more > |