Brazil’s tourism industry would be doomed without Argentines, even more so in 2023

Brazil’s number of foreign tourists grew 21 percent in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same period in 2020, pre-pandemic of the new coronavirus, reaching 2.3 million international visitors, the government reported Tuesday.

The arrival of foreign tourists in Brazil from January to March this year is also higher than in the first quarter of 2019, when there were 2.2 million international tourists, according to the Ministry of Tourism and the Brazilian Agency for the Promotion of International Tourism (Embratur).

It detailed that most tourists were from Argentina (1 million people), the United States (184,300), and Paraguay (151,500) and that the most visited states were Rio Grande do Sul (south), São Paulo (southeast), Rio de Janeiro (southeast), Paraná (south) and Santa Catarina (south).

Similarly, spending by foreign tourists increased in January and February, a period in which 1.5 million visitors injected the equivalent of R$5.8 billion (about US$1.145 billion) into the country’s economy.

“Tourism is strategic for our economy because the money that foreigners spend consuming here directly benefits Brazilian workers and entrepreneurs,” stated Embratur president Marcelo Freixo.

The executive specified that “for each real, we invest in the international promotion of tourism, 20 reais (about 4 dollars) return to our economy. We are talking about a high return investment”.

“This positive result is the fruit of the new perception that the world has of Brazil. The international community understood that the Brazil of democracy, diversity, and sustainability is back, with open arms”, celebrated Freixo.

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