Argentine tourists remain in the lead totalling 1.593 million last year, up 13.9% from 2010. Chinese and Russian tourists to Brazil jumped by 47.9% and 40.9% respectively in 2011, while the number of tourists from India rose 14.3% and that from South Africa climbed 6.8%.
“The figures show that intensifying tourism promotion in neighbouring countries was the right thing to do” said Flavio Dino, president of Brazil's state-run tourism promotion agency Embratur.The number of European tourists to Brazil rose slightly to 1.62 million, up 0.4% from 2010. Brazilian authorities stressed the increase was very positive given the severe economic crisis facing European countries.
“Not losing tourists is very good in a very unfavourable scenario,” said Tourism Minister Gastao Vieira.
Despite last year's record-high figures, the number of foreign tourists to Brazil has remained relatively steady in the past decade at around 5 million.
Brazil expects to receive a major influx of tourists in the next few years as it will be hosting the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Brazil hopes to be one of the world's top 5 tourist destinations by 2022, Vieira has said recently. To accomplish the goal, it would need to surpass Italy, currently in the 5th place with 43 million tourists in 2010. In other words, Brazil would have to increase its international tourism arrivals eight fold.
Norwegian
The Oslo Times welcomes your comments and invites you to discuss topics with other readers. Your comment will be posted automatically to enable a live discussion.
Your feedback is important to us and The Oslo Times would be glad receive your suggestions and opinions on your favorite sections. So, please take a minute and help us improve and grow it by filling our feedback box.