Brazil´s Travel Industry Posted 14.7 Percent First-Quarter Growth

The volume of hard currency grabbed by the Brazilian tourist industry wound up the first quarter of the ongoing year with over a billion dollars worth of revenues, up 14.7 percent from the three months of 2004, a new record high for that time of year.

Over the last two years, Brazilian tourism has backpedaled a slumping trend and has now begun to amass a $568 million surplus, according to a report issued by industry experts.

Following a whopping $22.5 billion shortfall between 1990 and 2002, the South American country´s leisure industry managed to turn the tables on that deficit and churn out a $217 million and $351 million surplus in 2003 and 2004, respectively, up a blistering 61 percent between the two years.

In 2004, Brazil´s tourist sector snared a grand total of $3.2 billion worth of revenues, up 30 percent from 2003.

And as far as the ongoing year is concerned, so far so good. Preliminary stats as to the amount of money spent by foreign tourists in the first two months of 2005 indicate gains in the neighborhood of $672 million.

The arrival of 665,819 visitors to Brazil in January broke the former mark of most foreign tourists in just one month and underscored the fact that Brazilian travel destinations continue to bask in acclaim among trekkers from around the planet.

According to Jose Francisco Salles Lopes, chief of the Research Center at the Brazilian Tourism Institute (EMBRATUR), a majority of those vacationers came to the South American country by plane, up 27 percent from January 2004.

As many as 52,207 passengers flew aboard charter flights, up a solid 41.2 percent from the previous year.

Mr. Lopes also noted these figures bear out ever-growing demand for plane seats in Brazil-bound international flights, a mark that hovered around 530,000 seats a month until July last year.

And the greenback also made a splash of its own in Brazil during the course of January. Stats provided by the Central Bank reveal that the country´s coffers gobbled up $341 million, a new all-time high that beat the $335-million mark garnered in December 2004.

The administration of President Lula da Silva has taken some actions in an effort to step up tourist promotion overseas, chiefly in such cities as Milan, London, Lisbon, Frankfurt and New York.

In spelling out the ad campaign´s details, Mr. Lopes explained his Center has put scores of well-trained professionals in those burgs to sell the Brazil travel product and poll potential travelers with a view to meet their demands and expectations.