Smart Strategy Spurs Brazil Travel Industry

Brazil is striving to eliminate the bureaucracy faced by tourists traveling to the country and the strategy is working.

The country is reporting that visitor arrivals and tourism spending are up for the first half of the year, TravelPulse reported.

These numbers come just a few months after Brazil instituted its electronic visa program for visitors from key countries late last year. American applications for visas to Brazil have skyrocketed since the launch, increasing nearly 36% in the first half of the year.

Vinicius Lummertz, who was recently named Brazil's minister of tourism, is working to modernize the tourism sector and has positioned tourism growth as critical to the country's economic success. Efforts appear to be working.

The arrival of foreign tourists in Brazil increased 8% in the first half of this year compared to the first six months of 2017: 3.15 million international visitors, according to preliminary figures from the tourism ministry.

International tourists also spent 5.6% more money in Brazil between January and June of this year compared to the same period last year. The international expenditures in Brazil totaled $3.24 billion, compared to $ 3.06 billion in 2017.

  Positive Trend

The second half of the year is also forecast to be a positive one. The country will see an increase in international airlift. Ninety-three new flights will start connecting airports from overseas to the country, including direct flights to/from Sao Paulo, Dubai, Rome and Lisbon and more.

By next year, there will be an additional six international flights, three of which will connect visitors from Sao Paulo to Las Vegas.

Existing routes will also see more frequent connectivity such as those between Sao Paulo and Miami, Campinas and Lisbon, and Rio de Janeiro and Paris.

The new connectivity showcases the efforts of Brazil's tourism ministry to connect international travelers with Brazil.

"Embratur [the Brazilian Tourist Board] works in all these markets to promote diversified destinations in Brazil and boost demand," said the general coordinator of the tourism competitiveness and marketing intelligence unit at Embratur, Alisson Andrade. "The greater the demand, the greater the interest of airlines to open flights to Brazil, not only to consolidated hubs like Guarulhos and Galeao but to other regions as well."