Market – Brazil

ST Brazil is composed of two other team members, with whom we cover the whole spectrum of impactful marketing.

Campaigning and Activation, Media

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	Natalia Leal, Marketing Manager Brazil
Contact LinkedIn	+55 11 98967-3883 natalia.leal@switzerland.com www.linkedin.com/in/natália-leal-35912443

Trade

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	Mara Pessoa, Trade Manager Brazil
Contact LinkedIn	+55 11 93039-1110 mara.pessoa@switzerland.com www.linkedin.com/in/mara-pessoa

• ST market research page –– here
• ST Research Report 2023 –– Download here
• ST TMS 2017 –– Download here
• Tourism at a glance (all markets) — Download here
• PANROTAS Brazilian market overview 2023 — Download here

General Market situation Brazil

The president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the leftist Partido dos Trabalhadores, scored some important victories in his first year in office: Congress approved a new, more flexible fiscal framework that allows real spending to rise by up to 70% of revenue growth, as well as a long-awaited tax simplification reform that consolidates several taxes into a dual value-added tax (VAT) system.

The legislative agenda for 2024 will focus on passing complementary laws detailing sectoral exemptions and other items that will dictate the overall level of VAT, which is likely to be the highest rate in the OECD, at more than 27%. By mid-year, however, the October local elections will be hanging over politics, delaying progress on the legislative agenda until 2025. Although it is believed that the government’s broader medium-term fiscal targets are overly optimistic, the framework appears credible enough for now to bolster investor confidence in debt sustainability*.

After slowing in late 2023 owing to the legacy of high interest rates, economic activity will gain traction as inflation eases and the central bank continues to loosen monetary policy*; it has already cut rate by 250 basis points since its easing cycle began in August last year. The forecast for GDP growth of about 2% per year in 2024-28 is based on the implications of Lula’s statist economic policies for the business environment and limited structural reforms*.

*according to the Economist Intelligence report

Seen from the outside, the results of the first year of the Lula III government are fairly positive, particularly in economic, environmental and foreign policy terms, in line with the objectives that had been set. Domestically, however, the challenges remain considerable, for example in the social, environmental and security fields. Corruption and a certain politicisation of the justice system are also a cause for concern, as is the persistent polarisation of society. While the government has remained relatively stable, portfolio rotation deals cannot be ruled out, particularly depending on the results of the municipal elections in October, which could act as a „third round“ of presidential elections in 2022. Internationally, with the presidency of the G20, „the world is coming to Brazil in 2024“, which should reduce international travel by the President and his Ministers. The multilateral exercises in which Brazil will be involved will be opportunities to better define the contours of Brazilian foreign policy, which is not always aligned with „Western positioning“. The fact remains that Brazil is probably the BRICS+ country whose values and principles are closest to those of the Western group. For Switzerland, in addition to its targeted participation in the G20 (which was not automatic…), 2024 will be a rich year with the possible finalisation of the EFTA-Mercosul agreement, the development of an environmental and sustainability agenda in the run-up to COP30, and several high-level visits.

OFFICIAL NAME: Federative Republic of Brazil

GOVERNMENT SYSTEM: Federal Presidential Republic

PRESIDENT: Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

CAPITAL: Brasília

LANGUAGE: Portuguese (we recommend that your promotional material, either printed or digital, should be written in Portuguese)

LOCATION: South America

AREA: 8.516 million km² or 3.288 million mi²

POPULATION: 203.080.756 million (based on IBGE 2022 Population Census)

CURRENCY: REAL

CITIES: 5.570

DIVISION: Brazil is divided into five regions with 26 states and one Federal District

MAJOR CITIES: São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, Fortaleza, Salvador, Belo

Horizonte, Manaus, Curitiba, Recife, Goiânia, Porto Alegre and Belém.

OFFICIAL TIME ZONE: GMT-3

INTERNET TERMINOLOGY: .br

INTERNATIONAL DIALING CODE: +55

LIFE EXPECTANCY: 75,5 years (considering the year of 2022)

OFFICIAL WEBSITES: https://www.gov.br/planalto/en and https://visitbrasil.com/en/

MINISTER OF TOURISM: Celso Sabino

Real GDP is projected to grow by 3.0% in 2023, 1.8% in 2024 and 2.0% in 2025. Economic activity
rebounded strongly in the first half of 2023 driven by an exceptional agriculture harvest and resilient
household consumption. Despite tight financial conditions, household spending will remain strong due to buoyant employment growth, declining inflation, and higher social transfers. Private investment will recover slightly throughout 2024 as monetary policy eases. Though commodity prices are declining, agricultural products will drive a continued expansion of exports. Inflation has declined markedly over 2023 and will converge toward the target band during 2024.

Monetary policy easing started in August 2023. Real interest rates remain high, leaving room for continued reductions in policy rates over 2024 and 2025. Fiscal policy remains expansionary, but a gradual consolidation is expected in 2024 to achieve the 1% of GDP primary surplus target required by the new fiscal framework. Implementing the new fiscal framework will help to restore confidence and achieve a more consistent macroeconomic policy mix. Stronger infrastructure investment and the planned adoption of a unified value-added tax can boost potential growth. Expanding access to early childhood education would facilitate labour market participation for women and reduce gender disparities.

Source: OECD

Brazil is preparing for the summer high season, the greatest period for trips in the country. The expectation is very positive, although it still presents some bottlenecks, especially in the air sector. Check out some perspectives for the next months:

• The domestic tourism is trendy, however, with the flight offer being nearly the same one as last season. That’s because the airlines suffer with the lack of new airplanes, due to the delay com- ing from the manufacturers.

• The International tourism is growing, but the flight offer hasn’t reached pre-pandemic levels yet. Europe still has the advantage of having more flights and presenting better prices in com- parison to the United States.

• The expectation is to end the year with more than 1.5 million Brazilian visitors in the United States, still a lower number compared with the 2.2 million in 2019.

• 5.8 million Brazilians already have the American visa and are able to travel.

• 1.3 million Brazilians should get the American visa this year.

• Waiting lines are occurring for visas that are being requested for the first time. The average waiting period to get a visa to the US is 190 days (it has already reached 660 days in June of this year). The U.S. Consulate’s estimation in São Paulo is to end the long lines by June 2024.

• The American air carriers are also starting the phase of seasonal increase in flights: American Airlines and Delta Air Lines will have additional flights from São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro to the United States.

• Great American attractions and theme parks should finish 2023 with the indicators equal to the ones in 2019, and Brazil is Top 3 in the main parks in Orlando, Florida.

• Despite the preference for Florida, in the United States, other destinations can already see an in- crease in Brazilians’ demand, such as New York and California.

Google has recently disclosed an unprecedented study about Brazilian travelers’ new consump- tion behavior, which has changed quite a bit from 2019 to 2023.

According to the study, the new featured behaviors are:

1 Tourism in Brazil becomes terrestrial 

Currently, the new traveler seeks, predominant- ly, smaller-distance routes, as for national des- tinations, aiming shorter itineraries. According to Google, there was an increase of 156% in the search for routes totaling up to 250 kilometers of distance from 2019 to 2023, while the search for routes with up to 3.5 thousand kilometers decreased 77% in the period. “This generates a structural change of Tourism in Brazil, which be- comes a terrestrial Tourism”, Martiniano points out.

2 Half of consumers’ interests are regarding accommodation.

Accommodation, which in 2019 represented 35% of the interest of Brazilian consumers, currently represents 50%. From 2019 until now, the search for hotels increased 99%, while the search for air- lines increased 1%, reaching the same threshold as in 2019.

3 The traveler’s journey is digital

Nowadays, the discovery journey of travelers is predominantly digital. Searches on Google and on YouTube are leading, and apps have a prominent role in the country. Brazilians pass 5h20m per day on apps, just staying behind Indonesia.

4 Tourism can become protagonist on Black Friday

The Tourism segment presents great potential on Black Friday. Goggle’s studies show that 71% of consumers want to buy trips on Black Friday, but 49% have never bought them, so there is indeed a demand and interest for pur- chasing trips within the period.

The interests of the traveler who buys on Black Friday is, mainly, on:

1o place – Accommodation (60%);

2o place – Package Deals (59%);

3o place – Flight Tickets (53%);

4o place – Sightseeing Tours (41%);

5o place – Tickets for Tourist Attractions (26%); 

6o place – Car Rental (25%)

7o place – Bus Tickets (17%); 

8o place – Cruises (16%).

The study also indicates that offers or package deals for trips ranging from four to ten days can have emphasis for consumers, as well as personalized offers beyond ten days for the high-end public.

5 Favorable consumption scenario

The economic scenario in Brazil brings an opti- mistic perspective this year. When questioned if the economy in the country will be better by the end of the year, 51% of Brazilians answered yes, considering as well that their own financial situation will improve. That means a consump- tion longing; Brazilians are more optimistic.

WHAT BRANDS AND DESTINATIONS ARE THE MOST SEARCHED FOR IN TOURISM? 

In the browse on Google, the airlines lead the ranking.

Gol (7.8%); Latam (7%); Google Flights; And Azul.

As for searches for generic terms, “beach” is the preferred one of Brazilians.

In the search for destinations, Rio de Janeiro prevails in Google’s searches, while internationally, Orlando is the most browsed destination. This isn’t exactly new, but now Curaçao is also in the spotlight, presenting a monthly growth.

The Brazil market focuses primarily on the personas Quinn and Kris. Find more information about the personas here.