None of the USA’s international travel source markets has been hit as hard and as squarely in its performance as was Brazil’s. One can argue about the measures that statisticians would employ in making such a case, but not here. The data don’t lie.
We’ll illustrate.
First, the worst of the damage to Brazil and its travel and tourism is behind us now. It was just years ago in April 2020 that the worldwide industry began to shut down as the COVID-19 driven pandemic began, wreaking havoc everywhere and causing millions of deaths—and many more millions of severely ill people—worldwide.
Second, in addition to the irreparable human damage the pandemic wasted, the global travel and tourism industry shrunken and emaciated. By the end of last year (2021), the number of Brazilians arriving in the United States fell to its lowest level of the 21st century. The absolute low point came a year ago—in June, 2021—when just 470 Brazilians came to the USA.
The profile, developed using data from the U.S. National Travel & Tourism Office, continues:
Brazilian Visitation to the USA
(000s)
| Year | Arrivals | Change vs. Previous Year |
| 2000 | 737 | +11% |
| 2005 | 485 | +26% |
| 2010 | 1,198 | +34% |
| 2015 | 2,228 | -2% |
| 2016 | 1,725 | -23% |
| 2017 | 1,912 | +11% |
| 2018 | 2,209 | +16% |
| 2019 | 2,105 | -5% |
| 2020 | 424 | -80% |
| 2021 | 239 | -44% |
One should note here that Brazil experienced two economic recessions in the past decade, with the latter taking place in 2021. And from the year 2013 on, the Brazilian currency, the real, has fallen in value by more than half against the U.S. dollar.
Brazilian Visitation to the USA
Month-by-Month 2020
| Month | Arrivals from Brazil |
| January | 198,284 |
| February | 152,666 |
| March | 54,665 |
| April | 796 |
| May | 2,822 |
| June | 470 |
| July | 823 |
| August | 1,863 |
| September | 1,781 |
| October | 2,225 |
| November | 2,767 |
| December | 4,527 |
Brazilian Visitation to the USA
Month-by-Month 2021
| Month | Arrivals from Brazil |
| January | 5,793 |
| February | 3,523 |
| March | 4,839 |
| April | 6.157 |
| May | 8,548 |
| June | 12,840 |
| July | 17,893 |
| August | 17.440 |
| September | 9.652 |
| October | 8,579 |
| November | 49,181 |
| December | 24,891 |
Brazilian Visitation to the USA
Month-by-Month 2022
| Month | Arrivals from Brazil |
| January | 70,214 |
| February¹ | 72,924 |
| March² | 78,787 |
¹ Final as available
² Preliminary as available
Interested in learning more about the U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO)? Then contact David Huether at the agency. He is NTTO’s deputy director for research, and he can probably help you. You can reach him here: David.Huether@trade.gov.
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On the upbeat: Taking note of the numbers, the most recent edition of the Brazilian Overview Monthly Report (BOM Report)—a joint effort of the Brazilian publishing giant PANROTAS and FECOMERCIOSP, the São Paulo-based business and economic research organization—notes that “masks mandates are falling, covid-19 is being controlled, and international travel is beginning to rebound.”
Added José Guilherme Alcorta, CEO of PANROTAS,”Brazilians are planning international trips for the next months, and destinations who have stayed close do the industry players will be ahead and in the top of our minds, as well as those destinations with fewer or no restrictions. Of course, vaccine certification is still demanded, and that’s not a barrier for Brazilian travelers.”
Some of the points emphasized in BOM Report included the following:
● Air fares are on the rise as the war of Russia against Ukraine has pushed up the fuel price in the entire world, and it is not different in Brazil. The airlines have already said that ticket prices will increase. The value of the dollar against the real is already going up. Traveling will be more expensive in Brazil and abroad. And families will prioritize vacation including all its members, and package deals and opportunities.
● Because there are still fungible monies on the marketplace, it’s likely that consumers will use credits (from government tax refunds) to pay for the cost of their travel.
● With international borders having reopened, flights are coming back to Brazil, gradually, but there are still uncertainties: from the need of a negative test for travelers to coming back to Brazil to the war of Russia against Ukraine; from the high dollar price to the financial difficulties and the return of inflation.
● A presidential election and the World Cup in the same year? Already, there are reports of consumers spending to buy new televisions (and not holidays) in order to be prepared for the mega-event which doesn’t take place until Monday, November 21, 2022 to Sunday, December 18, 2022 in Qatar. This is the first time that the World Cup will be held in the Middle East. Presidential elections always seem to slow down travel and vacations in Brazil. If so, it could have a drag on what is now expected to be a busy travel year otherwise. The election itself takes place on Sunday, October 2. The BOM Report refers to the two events this year as “two carnival celebrations.”
● The travel and tourism sector should be realistic, not euphoric. Remember, the Report reminds us: ”We are still in the pandemic.” This means that a good number of international travelers are cautious. They’re still waiting for the pandemic to end. And there are variants a plenty.
You can contact José Guilherme Alcorta, CEO of PANROTAS here: guilherme@panrotas.com.br
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And then there’s this—USA is top destination for travel-hungry Brazilians.
Who’s most eager to travel international than any other key market? Brazilians, of course. They are more excited to travel internationally and less fearful about Covid, but more concerned about border restrictions. The finding is from a survey commissioned by Wise (formerly Transferwise) and conducted by Morning Consult, which interviewed Brazilian international travelers.
Some key numbers from the survey include these:
—More than half of respondents (55 percent) are planning a trip to another country in the next 12 months; the number is 8 percent higher than in August 2021 (47 percent), when the first edition of the survey was conducted.
—In addition, one in three (32 percent) Brazilian international tourists visited another country in the last 12 months.
—The top motivations were visiting friends and relatives (44 percent) and visiting a desired location (45 percent).
—The top destinations were the USA (45 percent), Europe (27 percent) and Latin America (22 percent. The three locations are also the most sought after among those planning to travel soon, in the same order.
—Read the complete article here. It’s from Diário do Turismo.
