MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Foreign tourists near spending in Brazil to 2016 figures

January, March, and August were the best months for foreign tourism in 2022

Brazil's Central Bank (BCB) Monday confirmed foreign travelers had spent US$416 million in the country during September of 2022, the highest figure for the month since September of 2016, the year of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, which recorded US$ 446 million in revenues.

Between January and September this year, accumulated spending by foreigners exceeded US$ 3.6 billion, surpassing the rates recorded throughout 2021 and 2020.

This year, foreign tourists spent US$ 421 million in January, US$ 453 million in March, and US$ 431 million in August, the BCB reported.

Brazilian tourism agency Embratur Chief Silvio Nascimento said these numbers indicated a resumption of tourism in Brazil after the COVID-19 pandemic. He insisted that the 2022 data showed an improvement from September 2019, when spending by foreigners stood at US$ 400 million.

Until September, about 1.8 million visitors entered Brazil in 2022, according to the Federal Police, 192,000 of them in September alone, still behind the 287,000 recorded in September of 2019, before the pandemic.

According to a survey by the Tourism Council of the Federation of Commerce of Goods, Services, and Tourism of the State of São Paulo (FecomercioSP), based on data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), Brazil also had a record performance for national tourism in August this year.

In the accumulated over the past 12 months, there was an increase of 32.9%. Among the segments, the highlight was air transport, with an annual growth of 72.8%. The number of passengers carried in August reached 7.29 million, 30% more than in the same month in 2021 and close to the 7.9 million recorded in 2019, before the pandemic.

Hotel and food services also showed a 23.1% rise, while land transport grew by 16.8%. Cultural, recreational and sporting activities went up by 13.3%.

(Source: Agencia Brasil)