Travel to Latin America is expected to grow faster in coming years, in part as Mexico will see a greater number of U.S. visitors along with an economic recovery, but other destinations have also improved their offer and travel to the Caribbean will surge, a recent report showed.
“After underperforming the global average (…) Latin America inbound arrivals will post a 4.4 percent compound annual growth rate between 2013-2018, slightly above the global rate of 4 percent,” the WTM Latin America Trends Report 2015, prepared by Euromonitor International, showed.
The report used as base the year 2013, when Latin America registered 84 million arrivals that represented 3 precent growth over 2012.
Mexico is by far the most important Latin American destination, attracting three of every 10 travelers to the region.
“This can be mainly attributed to the country’s proximity to the biggest source market for Latin America: the U.S.,” the report said.
Brazil is in second place with only 8 percent of the arrivals. While the country is very large and has multiple offers, there is a difficulty for U.S. citizens to travel there as they need to obtain visas.
Argentina has 7 percent of the total arrivals, followed by the Dominican Republic with 6 percent and Chile with 4 percent.
While economic recessions in North America and Europe negatively affected arrivals in recent years, “the stabilization of the economy in those regions is expected to increase" them, the report showed.
Improved earnings by Latin Americans will also help tourism there. Just between 2008 and 2013, 44 million Latin Americans joined the population with income above $10,000 annually, the report indicated.
“Latin Americans prioritize travel above all else when it comes to discretionary spending,” the report said.
Between 2013 and 2018, Mexico’s arrivals will post a 5 percent compound annual growth rate to reach 31 million,” the report said. “However, Peru will be the country to register the strongest growth in arrivals over the forecast period.”
The report also looked at the important of internal religious tourism in Latin America, especially in Brazil.
“In 2014, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Aparecida received 12 million tourists according the Sanctuary’s estimates. This is almost twice the number of visitors to the Eiffel Tower,” the report said.
“Brazil has the most Catholics in the world, with over 12 percent of the global Catholic population. This corresponds to 137 million people,”according to the report.
Growth in travel to the Caribbean region is expected to surge.
“Between 2013 and 2018, inbound arrivals in the Caribbean region are expected to post an 18 percent compound annual growth rate, compared to a 12 percent between 2008-2013,” the report said.
In anticipation of this projected growth there has already been heavy investment.
For example, in Jamaica the first Hyatt-branded all-inclusive resorts were opened in March after an investment of over $85 million.
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