Tourism in Brazil is a growing sector and key to the economy of several regions of the country. It had 9.28 million visitors in 2025, an increase of 32% compared to 2024, ranking in terms of the international tourist arrivals as the second main destination in Latin America after Mexico. Revenues from international tourists reached US$7.9 billion (R$41.5 billion), an increase of 7.1% over 2024, according to data from the foreign sector statistics report released by the Central Bank (Bacen).
Brazil offers for both domestic and international tourists an ample range of options, with natural areas being its most popular tourism product, a combination of leisure and recreation, mainly sun and beach, and adventure travel, as well as historic and cultural tourism. Among the most popular destinations are beaches at Rio de Janeiro and Santa Catarina, business trips to São Paulo city, cultural and historic tourism in Minas Gerais, the Iguazu Falls and the Pantanal in the Center-West Region.Statistical Yearbook for Tourism 2020 base year 2019, page 331 of the PDF file
In terms of the 2024 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI), which is a measurement of the factors that make it attractive to develop business in the travel and tourism industry of individual countries, Brazil ranked in the 26th place at the world's level, third in the Americas, after Canada and United States. Brazil’s main competitive advantages are its natural resources, which ranked 3rd on this criterion out of all countries considered in the Americas, and ranked 2nd for its cultural resources, due to its many World Heritage Sites. The 2013 TTCI report also notes Brazil's main weaknesses: its ground transport infrastructure remains underdeveloped (ranked 129th), with the quality of roads ranking in the 121st place, and quality of air transport infrastructure in 131st; and the country continues to suffer from a lack of price competitiveness (ranked 126th), due in part to high and increasing ticket taxes and airport charges, as well as high and rising prices more generally. Safety and security improved significantly between 2008 and 2013, moving from 128th to 73rd place, See Table 4, pp. 18-19 and Country/Economy Profile: Brazil, pp. 116-117. before slipping to 106th by 2017.
International tourism
+Tourist arrivals of 2024 in % Historical international tourism arrivals 1995-2019 Year International tourist arrivals (x1000) Annual growth (%) Total revenue(millions USD) Annual growth (%)1995 1,991 - 972 -2000 5,313 - 1,810 -2003 4,133 - 2,479 -2004 4,794 16.0 3,222 30.02005 5,358 11.8 3,861 19.82006 5,019 -6.3 4,316 1.12007 Janeiro 2008, Ano v, nº 17, pp. 2 5,025 0.1 4,953 14.82008 See tables 1.1 and 3.8 Source Brazilian Central Bank 5,050 0.5 5,780 16.72009 Click on the link "UNWTO Tourism Highlights" to access the pdf report. 4,802 -4.9 5,305 -8.22010 5,161 7.5 5,702 7.52011 5,433 5.3 6,555 14.92012 pp. 10 5,677 4.5 6,645 1.32013 pp.10 5,813 2.4 6,704 0.92014 6,430 n/a n/a n/a2015 6,306 n/a n/a n/a2016 6,578 n/a n/a n/a2017 6,589 0.6 5,809 n/a2018 6,621 0.5 5,921 n/a2019 6,353 -4.4 5,995 n/a
+Yearly tourist arrivals in millions
According to the World Tourism Organization, international travel to Brazil began to grow fast since 2000, particularly during 2004 and 2005. However, in 2006 a slow down took place, and international arrivals have had almost no growth both in 2007 and 2008. Data corresponds to 2007 In spite of this trend, revenues from international tourism continued to rise, from US$3.9 billion in 2005 to US$4.9 billion in 2007, a US$1 billion increase despite 333,000 less arrivals. This favorable trend is the result of the strong devaluation of the American dollar against the Brazilian real, which began in 2004, but on the other hand, making Brazil a more expensive international destination. Fevereiro 2007, Ano IV, nº 13, pp. 3 This trend changed in 2009, when both visitors and revenues fell as a result of the 2008–2009 economic crisis. By 2010, the industry recovered, and arrivals grew above 2006 levels to 5.16 million international visitors, and receipts from these visitors reached US$5.9 billion. In 2012, the historical record was reached with 5.6 million visitors and in receipts.
Despite continuing record breaking of international tourism revenues, the number of Brazilian tourists travelling overseas has been growing steadily since 2003, resulting in a net negative foreign exchange balance, as more money is spent abroad by Brazilian than receipts from international tourist visiting Brazil. Tourism expenditures abroad grew from US$5.76 billion in 2006, to US$8.21 billion in 2007, a 42.45% increase, representing a net deficit of US$3.26 billion in 2007, as compared to US$1.45 billion in 2006, a 125% increase from the previous year. Março 2008, Ano IV, pp. 11 This trend is caused by Brazilians taking advantage of the stronger Real to travel and making relatively cheaper expenditures abroad. Brazilian traveling overseas in 2006 represented 3.9% of the country's population.
In 2005, tourism contributed with 3.2% of the country's revenues from exports of goods and services, and represented 7% of direct and indirect employment in the Brazilian economy. In 2006, direct employment in the sector reached 1.87 million people. Domestic tourism is a fundamental market segment for the industry, as 51 million traveled throughout the country in 2005, and direct revenues from Brazilian tourists reached US$21.8 billion, see 2.1.3 "Receitas setor trurístico 2005". 5.6 times more receipts than international tourists in 2005.
In 2005, Rio de Janeiro, Foz do Iguaçu, São Paulo, Florianópolis, and Salvador were the most visited cities by international tourists for leisure trips. The most popular destinations for business trips were São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Porto Alegre. Tables 4.1 a 4.4: Summary Brasil by trip purpose 2004-2005 In 2006, Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza were the most popular destinations by national visitors.
Main destinations visited by internationalleisure tourists in 2019Top 10 ranking by number of visitorsMain destinations visitedby national leisure tourists in 2020Rio de Janeiro was the most sought after city by Brazilians in 2020 Top 10 ranking by number of visitors Ranking (2019) Destination State Ranking (2020) Destination State1st Rio de Janeiro RJ1stRio de JaneiroRJ2nd Florianópolis SC2ndSão PauloSP3rd Foz do Iguaçu PR3rdMaceióAL4th São Paulo SP4thGramadoRS5th Armação dos Búzios RJ5thFortalezaCE6th Salvador BA6thNatalRN7th Bombinhas SC7thFoz do IguaçuPR8th Angra dos Reis RJ8thPorto de GalinhasPE9th Balneário Camboriú SC9thSalvadorBA10th Paraty RJ10thFlorianópolisSC
Visitor statistics +Visitors arriving in Brazil, by country of residence Country 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 3,386,823 1,960,182 1,882,240 1,032,762 67,280 887,805 1,954,725 2,498,483 2,622,327 2,294,900 2,079,823 1,743,930 1,711,491 1,671,604 1,593,775 759,637 728,537 668,478 441,007 132,182 172,105 590,520 538,532 475,232 570,350 575,796 656,801 592,827 586,463 594,947 801,921 653,895 458,576 202,470 46,673 131,174 391,689 387,470 342,143 311,813 306,331 336,950 268,203 250,586 217,200 528,554 465,020 424,460 308,234 132,126 122,981 406,526 356,897 336,646 316,714 301,831 293,841 268,932 246,401 192,730 524,729 388,464 334,703 180,064 11,575 113,714 364,830 348,336 328,098 284,113 267,321 223,508 262,512 253,864 261,204 293,008 235,163 187,559 130,910 34,848 70,369 257,504 238,345 254,153 263,774 261,075 282,375 224,078 218,626 207,890 273,483 218,354 182,463 149,747 38,704 51,028 176,229 145,816 144,095 149,968 162,305 170,066 168,250 168,649 183,728 209,854 182,166 158,582 120,670 29,514 61,149 206,882 209,039 203,045 221,513 224,549 265,498 236,505 258,437 241,739 190,342 154,495 129,447 86,766 18,907 45,646 182,587 175,763 171,654 181,493 202,015 228,734 233,243 230,114 229,484 187,396 153,754 130,239 87,909 9,809 48,595 163,425 154,586 185,858 202,671 189,269 217,003 169,732 155,548 149,564 160,484 132,484 114,096 83,745 22,828 32,665 145,325 147,159 137,202 147,846 151,029 166,759 169,751 180,406 190,392 175,418 131,368 99,353 61,634 13,077 33,895 135,880 121,326 115,320 114,276 113,078 117,230 98,602 91,996 86,795 128,494 129,992 123,803 90,694 26,330 45,449 132,069 126,253 126,781 138,106 108,149 95,300 95,028 112,639 85,429 194,467 129,501 118,163 84,470 27,892 27,129 126,595 131,596 140,363 135,192 118,866 158,886 116,461 100,324 91,345 121,884 99,137 82,324 52,171 12,731 18,068 82,921 79,891 81,778 94,609 90,361 109,637 76,738 61,658 64,451 103,163 96,540 86,591 54,252 8,077 26,950 77,043 71,160 48,951 70,103 68,293 78,531 67,610 68,462 70,358 103,122 76,524 42,542 8,787 2,360 6,297 68,578 56,333 61,250 57,860 53,064 57,502 60,140 65,945 55,978 68,719 61,129 42,341 17,635 1,904 20,476 78,914 63,708 60,342 79,754 70,102 84,636 87,225 73,102 63,247 63,604 58,092 50,359 38,371 13,568 17,063 63,826 70,040 69,484 69,074 70,319 80,277 68,390 69,571 65,951 64,773 54,273 45,917 35,488 9,080 16,532 59,752 62,651 59,272 72,268 66,870 81,655 69,187 73,133 72,162 56,308 52,888 46,935 25,825 1,650 17,932 56,158 42,235 33,862 49,809 44,896 67,389 45,079 43,161 35,642 48,935 42,832 35,983 30,216 4,478 10,419 34,973 23,917 13,363 16,428 17,651 19,467 19,352 18,457 16,871 59,060 38,493 33,273 18,971 6,593 7,646 31,040 29,374 34,244 30,604 34,899 42,349 29,324 26,462 25,495 Others 783,018 530,336 429,914 287,233 73,685 161,348 565,150 542,466 543,307 673,458 727,946 851,528 674,682 651,235 636,977 Total 9,287,196 6,773,619 5,908,341 3,630,031 745,871 2,146,435 6,353,141 6,621,376 6,588,770 6,546,696 6,305,838 6,429,852 5,813,342 5,676,843 5,433,354
2025 record arrivals The year 2025 marked a record-breaking number of international visitors, as announced by Embratur and the Ministry of Tourism. In 2025, Brazil registered 9,287,196 international arrivals from 205 countries. This represented a 37% increase compared to the previous record set in 2024, far surpassing the influx of tourists recorded during major mega-events hosted by the country, such as the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The most significant growth in arrivals came from Argentina, which saw a 72% year-over-year (YoY) increase. With over 3.3 million tourists, Argentines formed the largest demographic group to visit Brazil, followed by visitors from Chile, the United States, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Brazil also registered a substantial rise in tourists from Europe and Asia, with an overall increase of more than 20% from these regions. The United Kingdom, France, Portugal, Spain, Germany, Italy, and China represented the largest source markets outside the Americas.
The following table provides a breakdown of the top 88 source nationalities visiting Brazil, comparing arrival data between 2024 and 2025, alongside the year-over-year percentage growth: