RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – During 2019, Brazil received 6.3 million foreign visitors, a 4% drop compared to 2018. Argentina led as the main country of origin, with 1.95 million tourists, or 30.8% of the inbound tourists. It was followed by the United States with 590,500 and Paraguay with 406,500 tourists, followed by Chile, Uruguay, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and the United Kingdom to complete the top 10 international issuers of the country.
A total of 56% of the tourists visiting Brazil were from South America, totalling some 3,597,179.
The main gateway to Brazil continued to be by air (4,288,528), followed by land (1,839,451) and sea (123,127). The summer high season is the period of highest demand for visitors from abroad. In January 2019 the country received 863,301 visitors, while in February of the same year they recorded 816,032.
“The drop in the figures (between 2018 and 2019) is explained by the reduction of visitors from our main source, Argentina, which has experienced a year of many political changes due to the presidential elections. I believe we have worked on all fronts to develop the full tourism potential of our country in the post-pandemic period. Brazil has all the conditions to meet the new traveler profile: focus on biosafety and natural destinations,” commented the Minister of Tourism, Gilson Machado Neto.
As for the top 5 states that received tourists in 2019, they are Rio de Janeiro (with 1.2 million visitors), Paraná (1 million), Rio Grande do Sul (772 thousand) and Santa Catarina (200 thousand). Among the states that showed growth in the influx of international visitors during 2019 are Amapá (7.8%), Bahia (2.4%), Ceará (5.1%), Paraná (6.2%) and São Paulo (5%).
Source: Ministry of Tourism Brazil