Tourism in Brazil is Rebounding, National Trade Confederation Research Shows

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On September 27th, National Tourism Day in Brasil, the National Trade Confederation (CNC) announced that tourism is recovering at the same rate as the overall economy. According to the Cielo Tourism Sales Index, sales reached R$20.478 (US$5) billion in July this year, up by nine percent compared to June and 1.5 percent over the same month last year.

In July, the tourism sector generated 25,049 new jobs in the country compared to the same month in 2018.

According to Antonio Everton, a CNC economist, “this is very good because the economy is growing at a low level, but it is growing”.

In the accumulated results for the first seven months of 2019, the total revenues of the tourism sector reached R$136.731 billion in the country, an increase of 1.1 percent compared to the same period in 2018 (R$135.181 billion), and the highest revenue for the past four years. There is gradual growth, according to the CNC survey.

In the 12 months ended in July, revenues reached R$237.774 billion, an increase of 1.4 percent over the period from August 2017 to July 2018 (R$234.592 billion).

Industry sectors restaurant and similar, and passenger transport, accounted for 80.5 percent of the sector’s total revenue, with revenues of R$10.844 billion and R$5.641 billion and a growth of 4.9 percent and 20.2 percent, respectively, in relation to June.

“As the tourism sector is characterized by labor-intensive activities, the number of jobs and revenues reflected the consumer’s decision in terms of essential expenses, which are food and transportation.”

The service activities linked to food and transportation accounted for the largest tourism business in the period from January to July 2019, to meet the demand of consumers who spend the most, said the economist at CNC.

Brazil’s Southeast gets 61 persent of tourism revenue

The Southeast, which represents the largest wealth in the country and has the largest population and 61 percent of total tourism revenue, is the region that showed the highest turnover in July (R$12.533 billion), exceeding by 275.7 percent the figures for the South (R$3.336 billion). Next is Bahia, in the Northeast Region, with revenues of R$713.4 million.

The ranking is led by São Paulo, with revenues of R$8.423 billion, corresponding to 41.1 percent of national sales by tourism-related companies, followed by Rio de Janeiro (R$2.134 billion and a 10.4 percent share in total).

Next are Minas Gerais (R$1.629 billion and an eight percent share) and Paraná (R$1.222 billion or six percent of the region’s total).

According to the economist, it is in these four states that tourist spending is the highest, showing the greatest revenue of tourism-related companies.

According to an economist at CNC, the number of people employed in national tourism represents a share of almost 3 million individuals, representing 7.6 percent of the total number of employees with signed employment booklet in the country (38,828,681).