Foreign tourists are more into Brazil than investors

Tourists are greeted by the King of Carnival upon arriving in Rio de Janeiro. Photo: Antonio Lacerda/EFE/Folhapress

The first year of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s third term saw record spending by foreign tourists in Brazil, according to the Central Bank report on external accounts — which also showed a drop in foreign direct investments (read more below).

International tourists spent USD 6.9 billion in the country in 2023, up 39.5 percent from 2022 and the highest amount on record (dating back to 1995). The previous peak was recorded in 2014, the year Brazil hosted the football World Cup. That year, tourists paid USD 6.84 billion for products and services in the country.

The best news is that the flow of international travelers to Brazil is getting closer to what it was during the pre-pandemic period.

According to data from Embratur, Brazil’s tourism board, and from the Federal Police, 5.9 million foreign tourists came to Latin America’s largest economy last year. In 2019, Brazil received 6.3 million international visitors. That puts Brazil’s recovery in line with global expectations.

According to the first World Tourism Organization’s barometer, international tourism ended 2023 at 88 percent of pre-pandemic levels, with global receipts reaching USD 1.4 trillion, about 93 percent of the USD 1.5 trillion earned by destinations in 2019. Full recovery is expected in 2024.

Leisure (46 percent) and family visits (34.2 percent) were the reasons that brought the most travelers from abroad to the country last year, according to Embratur. Business was the third leading reason, accounting for 12 percent of trips.

Brazilians’ expenditure abroad also grew, but remains below pre-pandemic levels. Brazilian tourists disbursed USD 14.5 billion in 2023, an increase of 19.3 percent compared to the same month of the previous year, but still below the amount recorded in 2019 of USD 17.59 billion.

Embratur’s president Marcelo Freixo says he has been working to expand international air connectivity to increase foreign visitors to Brazil. “This is one of our biggest challenges. I talk to airlines almost daily about fuel prices and ways to make...

Fabiane Ziolla Menezes

Former editor-in-chief of LABS (Latin America Business Stories), Fabiane has more than 15 years of experience reporting on business, finance, innovation, and cities in Brazil. The latter recently took her back to the classroom and made her a Master in Urban Management from PUCPR. At TBR, she keeps an eye on economic policy, game-changing businesses, and people driving innovation in Latin America.