Aécio Amado
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Rio - Starting right now, tourists who come to Rio de Janeiro will receive a booklet with orientations about how to act in the city to avoid become easy marks for thieves and fleecers. The booklet was released on Tuesday (28) by the Brazilian Hotel Industry Association (Abih).

The booklet suggests, for example, that tourists not carry valuable objects, such as watches and jewelry, on their persons; that they not ride in taxi cabs that aren't authorized by the hotels; that they always use credit cards to pay large expenses and not show their wallets with large sums of cash; and that they stay away from places outside the usual tourist routes.

The secretary of public safety, Marcelo Itagiba, considered the Abih's initiative a positive one. In his view, the publication makes tourists more careful, contributing to the work of the police. In this initial edition, 50 thousand copies were printed in Portuguese, English, French, Spanish, and German, for distribution in hotels and airports.

Translation: David Silberstein