In a different scenario from last year, when the pandemic of Covid-19 reached one of its highest points, 2021 brought more hope in several sectors. One of them, which was operating in an extremely reduced form for months, was the sightseeing.
Throughout the year and with the acceleration of vaccination, the numbers started to move and optimism took hold of all the players that make up the market. The tourists, at last, were circling again.
In November, however, the discovery of the new variant of the coronavirus, Omicron, brought insecurity once again, with Brazilian cities and capitals canceling the New Year’s Eve party. Present in more than 50 countries, there is still little information about its lethality.
Now, with the arrival of December, the month of vacations, get-togethers and parties, it’s not difficult to find anyone who isn’t already planning a trip. A survey based on surveys of users from KAYAK, a travel metasearcher, between October 1st and November 22nd, points to a significant increase in internal travel between December 27th and January 3rd.
The most requested domestic flights, in order, are: Rio de Janeiro (RJ), Recife (PE), Salvador (BA), São Paulo (SP), Fortaleza (CE), Maceió (AL), Florianópolis (SC), Porto Seguro (BA), Natal (RN) and João Pessoa (PB). Cidade Maravilhosa, in first place, expects to fill 100% of the hotels, according to the Brazilian Association of Hotel Industries.
The abroad is also a target for Brazilians, who seek to take advantage of the opportunity of open borders. In the same period of the survey, among the most popular flights are: Lisbon (Portugal), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Cancun (Mexico), Miami (United States), Paris (France), Orlando (United States), Santiago (Chile) , New York (United States), Madrid (Spain) and Montevideo (Uruguay).
The company Decolar carried out a survey that shows a 63% growth in the search for airline tickets for the end of the year as a whole (Christmas and New Year’s Eve). Recife, Rio de Janeiro and New York are on the podium of the most sought after by customers.
“With the easing of restrictions, the advancement of vaccination and disclosures about the security measures in tourism, people are more confident to travel. We see this movement is expanding in recent days, with an increase of around 60% in searches for the Christmas period and 116% for the New Year. People are programming with more advance planning and travel more celebrative and self-indulgence, “says Bruna Milet, global director of advertising and institutional Brazil of Takeoff.
Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Florianópolis, Recife and Salvador lead, respectively, the list for the new year. In the search for Christmas, the five cities mentioned are repeated, but in another order of priority: first Recife, followed by São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and Florianópolis.
Even with the imposed restrictions and bureaucracy for entrances, international destinations are among the top 10 of air ticket searches in the company, such as the United States and Argentina. For New Year’s Eve, New York, Orlando, Paris, Cancun and Buenos Aires are the top five cities in the ranking.
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Another reference company in the travel market, Booking.com also revealed the most popular destinations on the platform for the end-of-year parties. It took into account searches carried out between November 1 and 24, 2021, for stays between December 23, 2021 and January 6, 2022.
The five cities searched for the period were beach and are located in southern and southeastern Brazil. They are: Ubatuba (SP), Rio de Janeiro (RJ), Florianópolis (SC), Guaruja (SP) and Camboriú (SC).
Brazilians’ passion for beaches is nothing new: another recent survey by the company, carried out on national territory, showed that even the sensations most associated with vacations by tourists in the country are related to the coast, such as hearing the sounds of the waves or smelling the smell from the sea.
In addition to cities, the analysis also revealed the five most sought after states in Brazil for the end-of-year period. They are, in order: São Paulo, Santa Catarina, Rio de Janeiro, Bahia and Minas Gerais.
The sector in 2021
The increase in travel demand was noticed during all the months of 2021. The impression of increased movement at airports, bus stations and roads was proven in numbers when, over the holidays of the year, the Ministry of Tourism registered the movement of millions of Brazilians, which represented an expressive growth in relation to the same occasions in 2020.
In September of this year, when the numbers of the pandemic in the country dropped considerably, the resumption movement began to gain more strength.
On holiday September 7, for example, the Ministry of Tourism estimated that more than 1 million people passed through airports. In the long weekend of 12 October, the number grew slightly: more than 1.7 million people passed through the main airport terminals. At the time, the main tourist destinations of Brazil recorded occupancy rates above 75%. Highlights were to Porto Seguro (BA) Ilheus (BA), Jericoacoara (CE) and Porto de Galinhas (PE) who had more than 90% of their hotels occupied by tourists.
On the All Souls Holiday, on November 2nd, in addition to the air sector, which surpassed the mark of 2.1 million passengers, the national hotel industry also had a very positive balance. This is because hotels in the country’s main attractions registered occupancy rates above 75%. Destinations such as Foz do Iguaçu (PR), Poços de Caldas (MG) and Tutóia (MA) – gateway to Lençóis Maranhenses – reached maximum occupancy in the period.
By land, according to the Brazilian Association of Passenger Land Transport Companies (Abrati), the October 12 holiday had a 30% increase in demand for bus travel compared to September 7th. The estimate was that the sector ended the month of October with numbers higher than those registered before the pandemic, surpassing the mark of 2.7 million passengers transported in the period.
If the expectation were confirmed, it would represent a growth of 157% compared to the month of October 2020, when 1.07 million travelers were counted on the country’s highways. CNN Travel & Gastronomy contacted the Association’s advisors to confirm whether the expectation was fulfilled, but still has not received an answer.
the optimistic future
Looking ahead, the sector as a whole sees the coming months as very promising, and surveys prove that there are, in fact, reasons for this. Almost 60% of Latin American travelers already plan to travel between November 2021 and February 2022, according to the Interamerican Network, a communications agency specializing in travel, which has been investigating travelers’ habits since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Booking.com’s annual survey on “Travel Forecasts” pointed out that nearly two-thirds (63%) of global tourists want to make up for the vacation time they lost in this pandemic period.
With the numbers of the pandemic increasingly stabilized (and with the supporters reinforced to keep it that way), little by little, the traveler’s life is picking up again and plans are being made with more security. For those who still don’t feel safe traveling, planning is part of the process.
“Traveling improves our quality of life and acts directly on our mental health, directly reducing stress, sadness and even depression. When traveling, you become psychologically healthier and become the owner of your time, without daily pressures, doing what you want, whenever you want. Traveling is having the possibility of living new experiences, of being in contact with the new, and this expands our learning and makes us feel good.”, emphasizes psychologist Gabriela Adriani.
“But whoever thinks that this only happens on the day you embark to your destination is mistaken. The journey starts exactly when you start planning. It’s very healthy to make plans. It is through it that we can escape reality and dream, in the hope that everything we are experiencing will pass in its entirety”, he concludes.
Reference: CNN Brasil
