SAU PAOLO, Sept 10 — The US has emerged as the top travel destination for Brazilian travelers, followed by Argentina, France, Uruguay and Spain.
That’s the overriding conclusion of a report released by the Canadian Tourism Commission last week which profiled the traveling and spending habits of one of the most courted tourist markets in the world.
After Chinese travelers with money to burn, international tourist boards are actively pursuing consumers in the world’s seventh largest economy who have disposable income and are developing serious bouts of wanderlust given recent mobility trends among Brazilians.
Between 2002 and 2011, for instance, the Brazilian outbound travel market grew from 2.2 million trips to an estimated 7.5 million. By 2015, rising incomes are expected to help a burgeoning middle class and wealthy Brazilians take more than 11 million trips.
Of those statistics, 65 per cent of outbound travel is long-haul, with the US emerging as Brazil’s favorite foreign destination, attracting 1.5 million travelers a year or 39 per cent of the market share.
By comparison, while visitation to Canada more than doubled from 35,000 in 2002 to 80,000 in 2012, the country’s “slice of the pie” is still small, making Brazil a strong source for growth.
Proximity also makes Argentina and Uruguay popular destinations.
The report found that travelers in Brazil favor vacations that offer cultural and historical experiences, which likely explains why France ranked the third most popular destination.
And when it comes to country brand perception, Brazilians ranked Italy as the friendliest country, followed by Mexico and Canada. Italy was also rated the most beautiful, authentic and witty, while the US took the top spot for being most confident, liberal and energetic. – AFP
