The 2023-2024 cruise season was a success in the market. The sector injected R$5.2 billion into the Brazilian economy and reached a new record, both in terms of number of travelers and job creation, according to the Study of the Profile and Economic Impacts of Maritime Cruises in Brazil, produced by Clia Brasil (Brazilian Association of Maritime Cruises) with the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV), launched at the sixth Clia Brasil 2024 Forum.
Each R$1 invested generated R$4.22 in the country, achieving the greatest impact on the Brazilian economy in the last ten years in the area, according to the research.
The 2023-2024 season had nine ships operating in 19 destinations throughout Brazil and South America, with 844,462 travelers. In the previous period, 2022-2023, 802,758 passengers were registered.
In other words, there was a 5.2% increase between the years. The 2021-2022 season, still during the Covid-19 pandemic, registered only 141,289 cruise passengers.
Marco Ferraz president of Clia Brasil, commented on reasons that may have led to the record in the last ten years. “We have seen the drop in unemployment rate and inflation has been worked on by the Central Bank to maintain the target. Interest rates are high, and this affects the cost of financing a little, but shipping companies can offer their packages in up to 12 installments, which greatly helps consumers in purchasing”, he commented to CNN Travel & Gastronomy .
In addition, the season also generated 80,311 jobs, 0.9% more than the previous one. Of these, 1,572 were crew members and more than 78,000 were direct, indirect and induced by sector and customer spending.
Ferraz explains that, according to international data from CLIA, one job is directly created for every 24 cruise passengers. These numbers involve port cities, agencies and tour operators.
The research also analyzed the average expenditure per person with the purchase of the trip, reaching a result of R$5,268 in an average of 4.7 days of travel. In the stopover cities, each cruise passenger generated an average economic impact of R$668.91. In the embarkation cities, the value was R$877.01.
Clia and FGV also point out that the number of tourists residing in Brazil who traveled on cruises abroad was 173.4 thousand in 2023 — an increase of 130% compared to 2022 — with an estimated revenue of R$906.9 million (R$353 million more than the previous year). The most visited destinations for cruise travel were in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean.
Ferraz says that expectations for the coming years are good, but claims to face “many competitiveness issues” in the cruise market. “If we don’t adjust in a short space of time, we have a high chance of losing ships to other destinations,” he comments.
“We are talking to everyone involved, in all destinations, ports and with suppliers, to try to be closer to what world average cost and, thus, not only maintain the ships we have, but attract new ships to our country”, he concludes.
Brazilians are expected to spend R$90 billion on travel in 2024
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Source: CNN Brasil
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