International tourists left 673 million dollars in Brazil in February 2024, equivalent to 3.4 billion reais at the exchange rate of the day. The value published by the Central Bank (BC) this Thursday morning (4) is the highest in the historical series so far this period. Compared to February 2023, when foreign visitor spending was $530 million, the growth was 26.9%.
The last record had been broken in 2018, before the Covid-19 pandemic, when international visitors spent $611.5 million in Brazil during the month of Carnival. This year's record exceeds the previous figure by 10.1%.
“This result consolidates a growth trend that began last year. In January we broke a historical record and now, in February, we not only broke the record, but we also significantly increased the gap between the best result so far,” celebrates the president of Embratur, Marcelo Freixo. “Tourism generates employment and income at the top, in the municipalities, and is a sector mainly for small businesses. This represents more development for families and more money circulating in the economy,” he reinforces.
In the first two months, which include the Brazilian summer and Carnival, the inflow of foreign currency was 1.47 billion dollars, an increase of 30% compared to the same period in 2023, when the value was 1.13 billion dollars . In total there were US$340 million more, which makes them the best two months for the tourism sector in the historical series.
“These are excellent results, already in the first two months of this year, starting 2024 with strong tourist activity that will contribute even more to the Brazilian economy and to the generation of income and jobs. We also launched PATI, with incentives for those who expand flights to Brazil and we will continue investing in international fairs and events, increasing the visibility of Brazilian attractions!”, highlighted the Minister of Tourism, Celso Sabino.
Tourist entry
The month of February also had the third highest record of international tourist arrivals of all time, as published by Embratur on March 22. There were 833,306 visitors from abroad in the period, an increase of 10.2% compared to 2023, when 755,842 tourists entered the country. And in the first two months, the registration of visitors from abroad was 1.79 million.
The sum of January and February is 3.64% higher than the 1.7 million registered in the same period of 2023. The arrival of tourists from Chile and France showed the greatest growth in the month, 77.7% and 49. 1%, respectively. In the historical series, the number of international visitors in February 2024 was the third highest ever recorded, only lower than that of the same month in 2018, 868 thousand, and in 2017, 863 thousand.
The registration of tourist tickets is carried out by Embratur in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism (MTur) and the Federal Police (PF). Complete information, with numbers by state, country of origin and mode of transportation used to enter the country, is available on the Embratur Data Portal.
Source: Embratur.