From the Newsroom*
São Paulo – Brazilian tourists spent US$ 939 million abroad in the month of April. The figure was disclosed on Monday (26) by the Central Bank of Brazil. According to the financial institution, greater expenses abroad by Brazilians were due to the appreciation of the Brazilian real against the dollar, which makes trips abroad cheaper.
The increase in expenses abroad reached 25% in April over March this year, when they were at around US$ 750 million. That is, Brazilian purchases abroad grew US$ 188 million from one month to the other. According to the Central Bank, the figures were also boosted by greater Brazilian income in recent years.
This, however, generated a US$ 500 million deficit to the sector, as expenses of foreigners in Brazil were lower. They spent US$ 439 million in Brazil in April. This is well above the US$ 171 million deficit registered in the same month last year.
In the accumulated result for the year, according to the Central Bank, the deficit in the travel account is US$ 1.43 billion, against US$ 433 million registered in the same period in 2007. The account of expenses of Brazilians abroad also includes trips to Dubai. Figures by the Dubai – Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing show that the emirate should receive 20,000 Brazilians this year, against 10,000 last year.
Brazil is working to attract more foreign tourists. The objective of the Brazilian Tourism Institute (Embratur) is to make tourism revenues obtained by the country reach US$ 10 billion a year by 2010. In 2007, foreigners left in Brazil a total of US$ 5 billion. The target, which is part of a plan called Aquarela, is also to increase the number of foreign tourist from 5.5 million a year to 7.9 million by 2010.
*Translated by Mark Ament
