Tourism in Brazil is a growing sector and key to the economy of several regions of the country. The country had 5.1 million visitors in 2010, ranking in terms of the international tourist arrivals as the second main destination in South America, and third in Latin America after Mexico and Argentina. Revenues from international tourists reached US$5.9 billion in 2010, not only recovering from the 2008-2009 economic crisis, but reaching its historical highest.[1]
Brazil offers for both domestic and international tourists, an ample gamut of options, with natural areas being its most popular tourism product, a combination of ecotourism with leisure and recreation, mainly sun and beach, and adventure travel, as well as historic and cultural tourism. Among the most popular destinations are the Amazon Rainforest, beaches and dunes in the Northeast Region, the Pantanal in the Center-West Region, beaches at Rio de Janeiro and Santa Catarina, cultural and historic tourism in Minas Gerais and business trips to São Paulo city.
In terms of the 2011 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI), which is a measurement of the factors that make it attractive to develop business in the travel and tourism industry of individual countries, Brazil ranked in the 52nd place at the world's level, third among Latin American countries after Mexico and Costa Rica, and seventh in the Americas.[2] Brazil main competitive advantages are its natural resources, which ranked 1st on this criteria out of the 139 countries considered, and ranked 23rd for its cultural resources, due to its many World Heritage sites. The TTCI report also notes Brazil's main weaknesses: its ground transport infrastructure remains underdeveloped (ranked 116th), with the quality of roads ranking in the 105th place; and the country continues to suffer from a lack of price competitiveness (ranked 114th), due in part to high ticket taxes and airport charges in the country, as well as high prices and high taxation in general. Safety and security have improved significantly, ranking in the 75th place in 2011, up from the 128th position in 2008.[2]
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| Historical international tourism arrivals 1995-2010 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | International tourist arrivals (x1000) |
Annual growth (%) |
Total revenue (millions USD) |
Annual growth (%) |
| 1995[3][4] | 1,991 | - | 972 | - |
| 2000[3][4] | 5,313 | - | 1,810 | - |
| 2003[3][4] | 4,133 | - | 2,479 | - |
| 2004[3][4] | 4,794 | 16.0 | 3,222 | 30.0 |
| 2005[5] | 5,358 | 11.8 | 3,861 | 19.8 |
| 2006[5] | 5,019 | -6.3 | 4,316 | 1.1 |
| 2007[6][7] | 5,025 | 0.1 | 4,953 | 14.8 |
| 2008[8][9] | 5,050 | 0.5 | 5,780 | 16.7 |
| 2009[10] | 4,802 | -4.9 | 5,305 | -8.2 |
| 2010[1] | 5,161 | 7.5 | 5,919 | 11.6 |
According to the World Tourism Organization (WTO), international travel to Brazil began to grow fast since 2000, particularly during 2004 and 2005. However, in 2006 a slow down took place, and international arrivals have had almost no growth both in 2007 and 2008.[8][5][11][12] In spite of this trend, revenues from international tourism continued to rise, from USD 3.9 billion in 2005 to USD 4.9 billion in 2007, a one billion dollar increase despite 333 thousand less arrivals. This favorable trend is the result of the strong devaluation of the American dollar against the Brazilian Real, which began in 2004, but on the other hand, making Brazil a more expensive international destination.[13] This trend changed in 2009, when both visitors and revenues fell as a result of the 2008-2009 economic crisis.[10] By 2010 the industry recovered, and arrivas grew above 2006 levels to 5.16 million international visitors, and receipts from these visitors reached USD 5.9 billion, its historical highest.[1]
Despite continuing record breaking of international tourism revenues, the number of Brazilian tourists travelling overseas has been growing steadily since 2003, resulting in a net negative foreign exchange balance, as more money is spent abroad by Brazilian than receipts from international tourist visiting Brazil. Tourism expenditures abroad grew from USD 5.76 billion in 2006, to USD 8.21 billion in 2007, a 42,45% increase, representing a net deficit of USD 3.26 billion in 2007, as compared to USD 1.45 billion in 2006, a 125% increase from the previous year.[14] This trend is caused by Brazilians taking advantage of the stronger Real to travel and making relatively cheaper expenditures abroad.[14] Brazilian traveling overseas in 2006 represented 3.9% of the country's population.[15]
In 2005, tourism contributed with 3.2% of the country's revenues from exports of goods and services, and represented 7% of direct and indirect employment in the Brazilian economy.[16] In 2006 direct employment in the sector reached 1.87 million people.[17] Domestic tourism is a fundamental market segment for the industry, as 51 million traveled throughout the country in 2005,[18] and direct revenues from Brazilian tourists reached USD 21.8 billion,[19] 5.6 times more receipts than international tourists in 2005.
In 2005, Rio de Janeiro, Foz do Iguaçu, São Paulo, Florianópolis and Salvador were the most visited cities by international tourists for leisure trips. The most popular destinations for business trips were São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre.[20] In 2006 Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza were the most popular destinations by national visitors.[21]
| Main destinations visited by international tourists in 2005[20] Top 10 ranking by travel purpose |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leisure | Business events & conventions |
Other purposes | ||||||
| Ranking (2005) |
Destination | % | Ranking (2005) |
Destination | % | Ranking (2005) |
Destination | % |
| 1st | Rio de Janeiro | 31.5 | 1st | São Paulo | 49.4 | 1st | São Paulo | 32.5 |
| 2nd | Foz do Iguaçu | 17.0 | 2nd | Rio de Janeiro | 22.3 | 2nd | Rio de Janeiro | 25.0 |
| 3rd | São Paulo | 13.6 | 3rd | Porto Alegre | 8.2 | 3rd | Belo Horizonte | 6.4 |
| 4th | Florianópolis | 12.1 | 4th | Curitiba | 5.4 | 4th | Salvador | 6.3 |
| 5th | Salvador | 11.5 | 5th | Belo Horizonte | 4.1 | 5th | Foz de Iguaçu | 5.1 |
| 6th | Balneário Camboriú | 6.7 | 6th | Campinas | 4.1 | 6th | Curitiba | 4.6 |
| 7th | Fortaleza | 6.4 | 7th | Brasília | 3.4 | 7th | Florianópolis | 4.0 |
| 8th | Natal | 5.8 | 8th | Foz de Iguaçu | 3.0 | 8th | Porto Alegre | 3.6 |
| 9th | Búzios | 5.4 | 9th | Salvador | 2.7 | 9th | Fortaleza | 3.4 |
| 10th | Manaus | 4.0 | 10th | Florianópolis | 1.8 | 10th | Brasília | 3.1 |
Most international visitors in 2008 came from Argentina (20.2%), from the United States (12.4%) and from Italy (5.3%), while as a region most visitors came from neighboring South American countries, mainly from Mercosul.[8] Top international arrivals by country of origin between 2006 and 2008 are:
| Top 15 visitor arrivals to Brazil by country of origin (2006–2008)[8][6] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ranking 2008 |
Country of origin |
Foreign tourists 2008 |
% total |
Foreign tourists 2007 |
% total |
Foreign tourists 2006 |
% total |
| 1st | Argentina | 1,017,675 | 20.15 | 920,210 | 18.31 | 933,061 | 18.63 |
| 2nd | United States | 625,506 | 12.39 | 699,169 | 13.91 | 721,633 | 14.41 |
| 3rd | Italy | 265,724 | 5.26 | 268,685 | 5.35 | 287,898 | 5.75 |
| 4th | Germany | 254,264 | 5.03 | 257,719 | 5.13 | 277,182 | 5.53 |
| 5th | Chile | 240,087 | 4.75 | 260,430 | 5.18 | 167,357 | 3.34 |
| 6th | Portugal | 222,558 | 4.41 | 280,438 | 5.58 | 299,211 | 5.97 |
| 7th | Paraguay | 217,709 | 4.31 | 206,323 | 4.11 | 198,958 | 3.97 |
| 8th | France | 214,440 | 4.25 | 254,367 | 5.06 | 275,913 | 5.51 |
| 9th | Spain | 202,624 | 4.01 | 216,373 | 4.31 | 211,741 | 4.23 |
| 10th | Uruguay | 199,403 | 3.95 | 226,111 | 4.50 | 255,349 | 5.10 |
| 11th | United Kingdom | 181,179 | 3.59 | 176,948 | 3.52 | 169,627 | 3.39 |
| 12th | Colombia | 96,846 | 1.92 | 45,838 | 0.91 | 50,103 | 1.00 |
| 13th | Peru | 93,693 | 1.86 | 96,336 | 1.92 | 64,002 | 1.28 |
| 14th | Bolivia | 84,072 | 1.66 | 61,990 | 1.23 | 55,169 | 1.10 |
| 15th | Netherlands | 81,936 | 1.62 | 83,554 | 1.66 | 86,122 | 1.72 |
| International visitor arrivals by region of origin (2006 to 2008)[8][22] | |||||||
|
|
South America | 2,070,391 | 41.0 | 1,906,451 | 37.9 | 1,818,352 | 36.2 |
|
|
Europe | 1,776,333 | 35.2 | 1,906,078 | 37.9 | 1,951,528 | 38.9 |
|
|
North America | 765,380 | 15.2 | 821,921 | 16.4 | 855,098 | 17.0 |
The following is a comparative summary of Brazil's tourism industry key performance indicators as compared with countries considered among the most popular destinations in Latin America, and relevant economic indicators are included to show the relative importance that international tourism has on the economy of the selected countries.
| Selected Latin American countries |
Internl. tourism arrivals 2010[1] (x 1000) |
Internl. tourism receipts. 2010[1] (USD (x1000) |
Average receipt per visitor 2009[10] (USD/turista) |
Tourist arrivals per 1000 inhab (estimated) 2007[5][11][23] |
Receipts per capita [24] 2005 USD |
Revenues as % exports of goods and services[16] 2003 |
Tourism income % GDP[16] 2003 |
% Direct and indirect employment in tourism[16] 2005 |
World ranking Tourism Competitiv.[2] TTCI 2011 |
2011 TTCI Index[2] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | 5,288 | 4,930 | 932 | 115 | 57 | 7,4 | 1,8 | 9,1 | 60 | 4.20 |
| Brazil | 5,161 | 5,919 | 1,147 | 26 | 18 | 3,2 | 0,5 | 7,0 | 52 | 4.36 |
| Chile | 2,766 | 1,636 | 591 | 151 | 73 | 5,3 | 1,9 | 6,8 | 57 | 4.27 |
| Costa Rica | 2,100 | 2,111 | 1,005 | 442 | 343 | 17,5 | 8,1 | 13,3 | 44 | 4.43 |
| Cuba | 2,507 | n/d | n/d | 188 | 169 | n/d | n/d | n/d | n/d | n/d |
| Dominican Republic | 4,125 | 4,240 | 1,028 | 408 | 353 | 36,2 | 18,8 | 19,8 | 72 | 3.99 |
| Mexico | 22,395 | 11,872 | 530 | 201 | 103 | 5,7 | 1,6 | 14,2 | 43 | 4.43 |
| Panama | 1,317 | 1,676 | 1,273 | 330 | 211 | 10,6 | 6,3 | 12,9 | 56 | 4.30 |
| Peru | 2,299 | 2,274 | 989 | 65 | 41 | 9,0 | 1,6 | 7,6 | 69 | 4.04 |
| Uruguay | 2,352 | 1,496 | 636 | 525 | 145 | 14,2 | 3,6 | 10,7 | 58 | 4.24 |
Tourist visa requirements have been waived for citizens of Andorra, Argentina, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Greece, Guatemala, Guyana, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, Malaysia, Morocco, Monaco, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Malta, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Surinam, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Uruguay, Vatican City, Venezuela.
Tourist visas also applies to lecturers at conferences, for visiting relatives and/or friends, unpaid participation in athletic or artistic event or competition (in this case an invitation letter from the sponsoring organization is Brazil is required), and unpaid participation in a scientific/academic seminar or conference sponsored by a research or academic institution (in this case an invitation letter from the sponsoring organization in Brazil is required).[25]
Domestic tourism is a key market segment for the tourism industry in Brazil. In 2005, 51 million Brazilian nationals[18] made ten times more trips than foreign tourists and spent five times more money than their international counterparts. The main destination states in 2005 were São Paulo (27.7%), Minas Gerais (10.8%), Rio de Janeiro (8.4%), Bahia (7.4%) and Santa Catarina (7.2%). The top three states by trip origin were São Paulo (35.7%), Minas Gerais (13.6%) and Rio de Janeiro (8.2%).[18]
In terms of tourism revenues, the top earners by state were São Paulo (16.4%) and Bahia (11.7%). For 2005 the three main trip purposes were visiting friends and family (53.1%), sun and beach (40.8%), and cultural tourism (12.5%).[15]
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