Mexico, Brazil and Argentina are the most visited countries in Latin America

In the last five years, Latin America was the scene of mega-sport events, such as the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and the Soccer World Cup, also in Brazil, in 2014. Thus, there was a growth of 6% per year in the number of arrivals of foreigners to the region. And who are those tourists from other regions who come to Latin America?

The most significant group, in terms of number of trips and excluding Latin Americans themselves, are tourists from the United States and Canada, followed by some European countries. It is also worth highlighting the high average annual growth rates of the number of travelers from China in recent years.

The strong participation of the United States in sending tourists to the Latin American region is related to its proximity to Mexico. European tourists, in turn, choose Latin American destinations -among them, Brazil- for still considering them as exotic and relatively cheap. For its part, China has sent more and more tourists to Latin America in terms of corporate tourism, and also for the same reason why it sends tourists to other regions of the globe: the rise of the Chinese middle class that is increasingly willing to spend, even on trips.

And which Latin American countries lead the receptive tourism ranking?
Mexico is the champion of receptive tourism in the region due to the flow of tourists from the United States, with Brazil and Argentina in second and third place respectively. The significant growth rate of the number of trips to countries such as Chile and Colombia stands out, with an average annual growth rate much higher than that of the other fifteen largest destinations in the region. Both countries have very well structured government incentive programs for tourism, such as Procolombia, Chile Travel and Chile is YOURS.

For the next few years, receptive tourism in Latin America is expected to continue growing at an average rate of 4% per year in the number of trips until 2022, driven in large part by the evolution of tourism promotion and incentive programs. countries like Peru, Colombia and Chile. In addition, an improvement in the profile of foreign tourists traveling to Latin American destinations is expected, as that tourist begins to increase their average spending per trip. With that, the expectation is that, in 2022, the expenses originating from receptive tourism will exceed USD 111 billion.