Brazil’s Minister of Tourism, Gustavo Feliciano, chose the eve of World Tourism Day (27 September) to publish an upbeat assessment of the sector’s performance. In an article released at 00:05 on 26 September, he revealed that international visitors spent R$ 33.6 billion (US$ 6.5 billion) in Brazil between January and July 2026—an increase of roughly 34 percent over the same period in 2025. The country also received 6.4 million foreign arrivals in the first eight months of the year, keeping pace with last year’s record numbers. Behind the headline growth is a conscious public-policy push. The state-backed Fungetur credit line has already signed 6,500 financing contracts worth R$ 2.94 billion to modernise hotels, tour operators and destination infrastructure. Municipalities have inked a further 2,100 co-funding agreements for waterfront revitalisations, convention centres and urban upgrades. According to the minister, tourism now employs 2.44 million people—about 5 percent of Brazil’s workforce—and created 93,000 formal jobs in the past 12 months. Feliciano argues that Brazil’s recent chairmanship of the UN Tourism Executive Council, new open-skies accords within South America and co-operation agreements with Mexico, India and China are positioning the country as a year-round long-haul destination, rather than a one-off events host. Liberalised regional air services, he says, will be key to unlocking secondary gateways, boosting corporate links and easing expatriate assignments across the Mercosur bloc. For mobility managers the trend matters on several fronts. More robust inbound flows mean tighter demand for hotel blocks, short-term rentals and domestic air tickets—already at an historic high of 68.3 million passengers in January-August. The jump in foreign exchange earnings may also encourage the government to maintain, or even expand, its recent e-visa and visa-exemption initiatives as it seeks to diversify source markets ahead of the high season. Companies planning relocations or project travel into Brazil should therefore monitor seat availability on major carriers and book early to lock in inventory before the holiday surge. Finally, the Ministry’s data underline that border formalities have normalised after the pandemic and that confidence is returning among both leisure and business travellers. Combined with Brazil’s drive to brand itself as a hub for Afro-tourism, Indigenous tourism and frontier exploration, mobility professionals can expect more requests for complex, multi-city itineraries into previously under-served regions in 2027.
Source: Brasil 61
