São Paulo – A survey issued by consultancy firm Euromonitor International showed that Rio de Janeiro is the most sought destination by foreign tourists in the Southern Hemisphere. São Paulo was the city that climbed the third highest number of positions in the ranking.
Dubai (in the United Arab Emirates) and Mecca (in Saudi Arabia) are on top of the global tourism list. The survey, which took into consideration visits of foreigners to the main cities in the world in 2008, recorded 7.584 million tourists in Dubai (which ranked 8th) and 6.586 million visitors in Mecca (the 11th in the ranking).
The number of visitors in Dubai increased by 13.4% compared with 2007, whereas Mecca received 0.4% more visitors in 2008 than in the previous year. The most visited city in 2008 was London, with 15.033 million tourists.
In 2008, Rio de Janeiro received 2.820 million tourists (40th in the list), representing growth of 7.3% compared with the previous year. The Brazilian city that received the highest number of foreign visitors was São Paulo, which, despite having ranked 72nd, recorded an increase of 30.4% in number of visitors.
According to the survey, new connections and airlines that started operating in São Paulo have helped boost the number of visitors to the city. As examples, the survey mentions airlines Mexicana, OceanAir and Emirates, which started operating in the city.
The survey also points out that cities such as New York and São Paulo recorded significant growth due to good exchange rates, aggressive government incentive and efficient promotional campaigns.
The survey took into account only foreign tourists who stayed in the cities surveyed for at least 24 hours, and were lodged in individual or collective rooms.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
