Always mentioned in this context, Rio de Janeiro vocation for tourism is based not only in its natural beauties, its coast, its historical and cultural quantity, or in the enviable climate. This aptitude is also showed by the characteristics of its happy, amiable and hospitable people, beyond the fact that the city was transformed into a strong center for the industry of services. More than this, what is missing for Rio de Janeiro, as well as for Brazil, is a great tourism project, through a coordinated action putting together all kinds of agents of this promising sector. Planned well, the tourism industry can be the faster way for Rio de Janeiro to recover the growth, as it is an important source of jobs, and income generation. This subject is related to a chain of agents, gathering the three levels of the Government - federal, state and municipal -, the entrepreneurs, the investors and also the population. There is no doubt about the role of responsibility that the Government has to play as an integrator agent and promoter of the tourism development. This research presents an investigation of the performance of the Government agents of Rio de Janeiro, both state and municipal, regarding the marketing strategy, with focus in the city promotion. A qualitative research method was used in a case study, through not- structuralized interviews with executive`s personals of the two state-owned companies of tourism development of Rio de Janeiro and also with tourist trade professionals. The conclusions showed many lacks that must be removed, in order to give the adequate dynamics to the sector`s development. Brazilian problems related to government management, allied to the lack of resources, the weak horizontal and vertical power to articulate with other levels of administration, and the absence of a planning process are the main reasons to the weak results of the tourism industry in the city of Rio de Janeiro.