Seven million visitors chose Brazil — and left about $8.66 billion behind

Brazil welcomed around 7 million foreign tourists in the first nine months of 2026, and they spent more than 45.6 billion reais (about $8.66 billion) — up 10% on last year, the Ministry of Tourism said, citing Central Bank data. September alone set a record at 4.9 billion reais (about $931 million) in visitor spending, money that lands in hotels, restaurants and small family businesses. The sector created 62,000 formal jobs in the year to August, taking tourism employment to 2.42 million people. Brazil has also launched a joint tourism portal with Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay, inviting travellers to treat the region as one journey.

SDG 8 · Decent work and economic growth — Mechanism: market force