Brazilians Reduce Spending While Traveling Abroad

By Lise Alves, Senior Contributing Reporter

SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – The unfavorable foreign exchange rate has led Brazilians to take fewer international trip and those who do travel abroad are spending a lot less, according to data from the Brazil’s Central Bank (CB). Data shows that Brazilians traveling abroad spent 52.67 percent less in October of 2015 than during the same period last year.

According to the CB Brazilians spent a little over one billion dollars abroad in October, and in the accumulated total for the first ten months of the year spending was of US$15.14 billion, 30.21 percent less than in the same period last year. This was the lowest result for the month of October in six years.

Despite the decline, Brazilian spent more abroad than foreigners spent while traveling in the country. Revenues from foreigners traveling in Brazil in October totaled US$453 million, while for the accumulated total for the first ten months of the year they spent US$4.785 billion.

According to Fernando Rocha who is assistant head of the Economics Department at the CB, the lower spending was not only influenced by the appreciation of the US dollar in relation to the Brazilian real, but also the decline in economic activity, which has made Brazilians weary.

With inflation surging and unemployment rising, Brazilians are thinking twice about traveling abroad. The US dollar has appreciated nearly 45 percent since the beginning of the year, making airline tickets, hotels and food abroad almost twice as expensive than they were last year.