BRAZIL - Struggle for Global Tourists

Brazil is celebrating what it calls a record year for international tourism, expecting to surpass 8 million foreign visitors in 2025.

This is up from 6.8 million in 2024 and 5.9 million in 2023, with 4.8 million visitors already counted in the first five months of 2025. Officials are hailing this as a historic achievement and a sign that Brazil is becoming a “top global destination.”

How Small Are Brazil’s Tourism Numbers?

Let’s put Brazil’s “record” in perspective:

• Brazil’s Size: Fifth largest country in the world, similar in area and population to the USA and China.

• 2025 Foreign Visitors: Projected at just over 8 million.

• Tourism Revenue (2024): $7.3 billion.

-www.riotimesonline.com, 13 June 2025

Commentary: Tourism is a barometer of attraction on one hand, and luxury on the other. Never before in human history did people travel from continent to continent, from state to state as they do in our days. Obviously, this is due to the ease of travel and communication, giving the traveler much information about the destination.

When tracking history, we notice several empires received many travelers, such as Babylon, Athens, and Rome. According to several statistical sources, global travel continues to grow year after year. The undisputed leader for global arrivals is France, with 102 million visitors yearly. Spain has 93.8 million, the USA 72.4 million, Turkey 60.6 million, and Italy 57.9 million.

In this case, it is of interest that Brazil’s tourism makes up 9.5% of their economy (in the US 7%, and Israel 2.5%).

As of May 2025, the two giants, Airbus and Boeing, can’t keep up with their deliveries of new passenger jets. For Airbus, there is a backlog of 8,617 planes, and for Boeing it’s 6,528. According to Travel and Leisure, at any given moment, there are between 8,000-20,000 planes in the air worldwide. Based on various sources regarding production schedules of new planes, it seems that air traffic is just getting started.

Approximately 2,600 years ago, the prophet Ezekiel had this to say about Tyrus and Sidon: “Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God: Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee: With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures: By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches: Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God” (Ezekiel 28:2-6).

In the end, the prophet adds: “All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more” (v. 19). That can be said about the entire planet in our days. Never has humanity collectively been so rich as today, with an abundance of time and luxury.

When it to comes to the Church, the Lord declares: “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:17).