FIFA World Cup raises tourism numbers in Brazil

Brazil recently registered its tourism numbers from 2014, showing an increase of 6.425 million international tourists that is attributed to the FIFA World Cup.

This is the first time that Brazil's monthly tourism has exceeded 6 million tourists.

Brazil’s neighboring country, Argentina, is the leading country for tourists bound to Brazil with 1.743 million visitors in 2014. The second-highest number was U.S. tourists, with 656,801 visitors. Chile was third with 336,650 tourists.

The main port of entry for tourists traveling to Brazil is Sao Paulo, which served 2.219 million people. Rio de Janeiro showed the largest increase in foreign visitor entries, amounting to 1.597 million tourists for a 32.2 percent growth compared to 2013.

“The numbers prove that the World Cup was big business for tourism,” Minister of Tourism Henrique Alves said. “Now the challenge is to guarantee conditions for the sector to keep growing. Mega events are exceptional catalysts for increasing tourism, but in order to maintain consistent growth, we need to address structural issues and approach tourism with professionalism in Brazil."

Further details are available in the 2015 Annual Report on Tourism Statistics from the Brazilian Ministry of Tourism.