Travel in Brazil decreased by 41% between 2019 and 2021

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazilians made 20.9 million trips in 2019, 13.6 million in 2020, and 12.3 million in 2021. The number of trips decreased by 41% between 2019 and 2021.

In 2020, 98% of trips were domestic, compared to 99.3% last year. The share of international trips decreased from 3.8% in 2019 to 0.7% in 2021.

The National Household Sample (Pnad) Continuous Tourism 2020-2021, published yesterday (6th) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), shows that the percentage of households in which a resident traveled decreased from 21.8% in 2019 to 13.9% in 2020 and 12.7% in 2021.

The IBGE analysis shows that while tourism has been dramatically affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, leading to social isolation and the closure of several tourist facilities, the main reason for the decline in travel remains to have no money to travel.

Research analyst Flávia Vinhaes also points out that the health crisis, with the measures of social withdrawal, the impossibility of taking flights, and the fear of contracting or even being infected with the new coronavirus, has been an essential factor in the decrease in national and international travel in the last two years.

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For the first time, the Pnad has surveyed tourism spending. In 2021, total spending on domestic overnight stays was R$9.8 (US$1.8) billion, compared to R$11 billion in 2020, with the highest spending on travel to São Paulo (R$1.8 billion), Bahia (R$1.1 billion) and Rio de Janeiro (R$1 billion).

Every fifth trip (or 20.6%) was to the state of São Paulo, the most popular destination. It is followed by Minas Gerais (11.4%) and Bahia (9.5%).

About one-third (33.1%) of households with a per capita income of four or more minimum wages had a resident who traveled in 2021. On the other hand, only 7.7% of households with per capita incomes below half the minimum wage had someone who traveled in the past year.

Among households with per capita incomes less than half the minimum wage, 35.1% of personal trips were for health care, and only 14.3% were for leisure. Among households with per capita incomes of four or more minimum wages, 57.5% of trips were for leisure, and only 4.4% were for health care.

Among leisure reasons, 55.6% of trips in 2020 were for sun and beach tourism. In 2021, this proportion was 48.7%. Nature, eco-tourism, or adventure trips accounted for 20.5% in 2020 and 25.6% in 2021.

About 57.2% of trips in 2021 were made by private or company car, 12.5% by public bus, and 10.2% by airplane. Of the total trips in 2021, about 14.6% were business trips, and 85.4% were personal trips.

As the main place of stay, the home of friends or relatives surpassed the other modalities, accounting for 42.9% in 2021. In second place was the hotel, resort, or apartment option with 14.7%, IBGE said.

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