São Paulo – Brazil attained a record number of incoming tourists this Thursday (6th). For the first time ever, the country has received six million foreign visitors in a year, and according to the chairman of the Brazilian Tourism Institute (Embratur), Flávio Dino, the major international events Brazil will host in coming years should cause visitor numbers to quickly reach seven million.
“This is a historical mark, and it goes to show that the cycle of events Brazil is hosting indeed has a positive effect on tourism economy. We will keep growing and with the World Cup next year, we should see close to seven million foreign tourists. A leap from 5.1 million to seven million within three years is quite significant, higher than the global average,” said Dino, according to Agência Brasil.
In 2013, Brazil received tourists who travelled to attend the World Youth Journey, held in July in Rio de Janeiro, and the Confederations Cup, held in June in Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Salvador, Recife and Fortaleza.
Dino said foreign tourists should spend US$ 6.6 billion in the country this year. He also said Brazil is investing to meet the growing demand, as shown by the recent airport concessions to private enterprises and the hotel network expansion. He conceded, however, that investment is needed in training tourism industry personnel, “especially with regard to other languages.”
Even though tourist visitation has reached a record high, Brazil is still far from being one of the leading international travel destinations. Figures from the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) show that France was the leading travel destination in 2012, at 83 million tourists received, followed by the United States (67 million), China (57.7 million), Spain (57.7 million), Italy (46.4 million), Turkey (35.7 million), Germany (30.4 million), the United Kingdom (29.3 million) Russia (25.7 million) and Malaysia (25 million).
Argentinean woman won a gift
To celebrate the six million tourist mark, Embratur has symbolically chosen the 30-year-old Argentinean lawyer Nadia Panis, who arrived at the Antonio Carlos Jobim/Galeão International Airport, in Rio de Janeiro, as tourist number six million. Embratur picked an Argentinean because the country is the leading issuer of tourists to Brazil.
According to Embratur, out of 5.7 million foreigners who visited Brazil in 2012, 1.6 million were from Argentina. Embratur presented Panis with a diploma and a trip to the city of Búzios, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, a popular destination for Argentineans.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum