VisitBritain and Embratur, the Brazilian national tourism organisation, have signed an official partnership agreement to increase tourism between the two countries around the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The signing of the agreement took place in Rio de Janeiro during an Olympic tourism summit held by Embratur to learn from Australia's experience from Sydney 2000 and the UK's preparations for London 2012.

Sandie Dawe, VisitBritain chief executive said: "We feel that this sets the stage for much greater engagement between our two countries and how we can work together on tourism issues and many others. "We both share the challenge and the privilege of hosting this huge event, so we can think about not only what it can do for us but what we can do for the Olympic Movement."

Potential areas for collaboration include joint lobbying for increased air capacity between the UK and Brazil, introductions to key contacts, promotional swaps and reciprocal support in the run-up to both the 2012 and 2016 Games.