Brazil recorded an inflow of US$6.005 billion (R$34.9 billion) in spending by international tourists in the first ten months of 2024. According to new data released by the Central Bank, the accumulated value for the year represents a growth of 5.9% compared to the same period last year, when US$5.670 billion was recorded.
More and more foreign visitors are seeking Brazil as a destination – 5.4 million visited the country until October –, which generates revenue for areas such as food, accommodation, services and the informal economy. In October alone, US$596 million was injected into the country’s economy through consumption by international tourists.
The president of Embratur, Marcelo Freixo, highlighted that the records broken this year are the result of the intense work to strengthen Brazil as a sustainable and diverse destination abroad, in addition to the expansion of air connectivity.
“Embratur operates very efficiently on both sides of the tourism market: with a segmented promotion strategy, we offer the ideal Brazil for each different profile of foreign tourist, in the main countries, always presenting our country as sustainable, cheerful and diverse. On the other hand, we work to expand the number of international flights, which is a record, ensuring that the interest in visiting Brazil is converted into more tourists arriving in our country, boosting our economy, generating jobs and income here”, he comments.
The Minister of Tourism, Celso Sabino, also believes that the increased figures are the result of the positive reinforcement of the country’s image that is being made. “We are in a very promising moment, with Brazil being seen and remembered abroad. Our foreign policy and our leading role in important global agendas have reinforced the country’s image. This promotes tourism, values national potential and makes these foreigners want to live this experience, which is only possible here”, he summarised.
Goals
Attracting foreign tourists to Brazil is part of the National Tourism Plan (PNT) 2024-2027, which seeks to make the country the largest recipient of tourists in South America. The document sets the goal of reaching 8.1 million foreign travellers per year, in addition to reaching US$ 8.1 billion in revenue generated from spending by this audience.
International tourists
Up until October alone, more than 5.4 million international tourists visited the country, representing an increase of 13.4% compared to the same period in 2023. More than 508,000 foreigners arrived in Brazil in October, a result 24% higher than the same month last year. The number is also the highest in history, surpassing the then best month of October, in 2015, when around 491,000 foreign visitors travelled to the country.
According to Embratur’s president, Marcelo Freixo, Brazil is expected to meet the tourist target set for this year. “There is a real chance that we will surpass the historical record, which is 6.6 million, in 2018. This is the result of highly qualified and technical work carried out by Embratur, in partnership with the Ministry of Tourism, but, above all, a victory for all the entrepreneurs and workers who welcome foreign tourists from the north to the south of the country,” he stated.
Entry points
The main gateway to Brazil in October was São Paulo, with almost half of the arrivals (200,664), followed by Rio de Janeiro, with almost 131,000 arrivals, Paraná (64,000), Rio Grande do Sul (29,000), Bahia (11,654) and Ceará (10,463), respectively.
Most of the foreign visitors who arrived in Brazil this year came from Argentina, which remains the main source of tourists to Brazil, with more than 1.58 million visitors since the beginning of 2024. In second place are visitors from the United States, which have numbered more than 572,338 to date, followed by Chile, with 518,345.
In addition, European countries such as France, Portugal, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain together account for 829,320 tourists who crossed the Atlantic to visit Brazil.
The UK is the 4th largest European market for Brazil, with 124,639 British tourists visiting the country by October 2024, in comparison to last year’s 105,457 visitors in the same period (January-October 2023).
ABOUT EMBRATUR
Embratur (Brazilian Agency for International Tourism Promotion) is an autonomous social service whose objective is to plan, formulate and implement commercial promotion actions for Brazilian products, services and tourist destinations abroad, in cooperation with the federal public administration and in partnership with governments, city halls and the private sector.
