A restricted arrival zone will be set up later this week at the Rio De Janeiro international airport in efforts to protect tourists after Sunday's robbery of a busload of British travelers, the airport authorities announced on Tuesday.

Infraero, a Brazilian state-owned company that runs 68 airports including the above one, said only firms that can present credentials provided by the Infraero will be granted the access to the zone. Taxi drivers, bus drivers and tourist guides will have to apply for such permission. Otherwise they will not be allowed to pick up passengers at the airport.

The measure aimed to provide more safety to tourists coming to Brazil, said Pedro Azambuja, Infraero's regional superintendent.

Several attacks on tourists buses coming from the airport here have taken place this year.

Criminals usually chose targets at the airport and shadowed them while communicating with their accomplices who monitor highways, said the police. Once the criminals found there were no policemen around, they robbed their victims.

That was what exactly happened to 18 British tourists, who were assaulted Sunday dawn shortly after their arrival.

Their bus was forced to pull over on the highway by a utility vehicle with three armed men aboard, who robbed the tourists and ran away.

Famous for its annual Carnival bash, its sandy beaches and verdant mountains, Rio has long been Brazil's most popular tourist destination, but it also has one of the highest murder rates in the world.

(Xinhua News Agency November 29, 2006)