Tourism in Brazil lost R$274 billion in 11 months of pandemic

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The crisis triggered by the covid-19 pandemic resulted in a R$261 (US$48) billion loss in revenues for the tourism sector in 2020, according to estimates by the National Confederation of Trade of Goods, Services and Tourism (CNC).

Including January, losses add up to R$274 billion in 11 months, from March 2020 onwards. Amid the crisis, the sector closed 397,100 formal jobs last year, also according to the CNC study.

The calculations are based on the Monthly Service Survey (PMS), whose December data was released on Thursday, 11th, by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), and also on data related to the flow of passengers and aircraft in the 16 main airports in Brazil. The PMS tourism activity index registered a 36.7% drop in 2020 over 2019.

May last year was the worst pandemic month for tourism, when the sector lost R$37.47 billion in revenues, according to the CNC. In the accumulated period through January this year, the bulk of losses were recorded in the states of São Paulo (R$99.18 billion) and Rio (R$42.04 billion).

With respect to the impact on the labor market, the CNC’s calculations were based on CAGED, the Ministry of the Economy’s register of formal employee admissions and dismissals. The activities that closed the most jobs were bars and restaurants (-211.100), road transport (-90.700), and hotels and similar (-56.500).

“Tourism has been the set of economic activities most affected by the pandemic. Unlike trade and industry, which are now showing activity levels higher than in early 2020, the sector has lost almost 30% compared to the average revenue generation in the first two months last year,” according to the CNC study report, prepared by economist Fábio Bentes.

Based on these calculations, the organization estimates that the tourism sector will experience an additional 9.7% loss in real revenue in 2021. Consequently, a return to the level before the pandemic is expected only in the second quarter of 2023.

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