Lisbon, Sept. 10, 2026 (Lusa) - The Portuguese have once again overtaken the French as the leading European tourists in Brazil, totalling around 178,000 by July, an increase of 25% compared with the same period last year, Embratur's chief executive told Lusa.
«Between January and July 2026, the country welcomed 5,874,981 foreign tourists, and of these, 177,956 came from Portugal, a 24.9% increase compared with the same period in 2025, Bruno Reis told Lusa on the sidelines of a TAP event.
In 2026, the national flag carrier is celebrating the 60th anniversary of its first scheduled flight to Brazil, between Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro, a destination which is one of TAP's three most important in that market, alongside São Paulo and Recife, and marked the occasion on Wednesday evening in Estoril (Cascais).
«For the first time, I think in the last 10 years, from January to July, Portugal is Europe's largest source market for Brazil, once again overtaking France,» said the head of Embratur, the Brazilian Agency for International Tourism Promotion, during the event.
Speaking on the sidelines of the event, the official told Lusa that the performance up to July reinforces «the importance of connectivity between the two countries» and is «the result of Embratur's commercial strategy, adopted as part of the ‘Plan Brasil' for international marketing and promotion».
At the event, the chair of TAP's Board of Directors reiterated the strategic importance of Brazil, a destination the airline wishes to continue developing, serving 15 destinations across 10 states exclusively, and where it is the European market leader.
Embratur's chief executive praised «the courage shown by many of our forebears» when they launched the first air link to Rio de Janeiro.
«This is a time for us to draw inspiration from these 60 years [of partnership between TAP and Brazil] and to celebrate this in a very assertive and strategic manner,» he said.
Bruno Reis also pointed out that Brazil had managed to «reposition itself on the international market» by 2025.
«We have achieved figures never before seen in our country's history. This is also thanks to our collaboration with TAP. I always say that TAP does not just connect 15 cities. It establishes a strategic, specific link across six biomes in Brazil. It is the only airline that connects all our biomes. And that is highly strategic. It is vital for supporting tourist destinations,» he said.
TAP's chairman, Carlos Oliveira, said that in 2025, TAP carried more than 2.2 million passengers between the two continents – from Europe to South America, particularly Brazil.
On 14 June 2024, Lusa reported that the Brazilian government was investing in cultural campaigns to attract Portuguese tourists, expecting to welcome up to 300,000 visitors from Portugal in a new all-time high, an official source told Lusa.
To sustain this growth, the focus is now on strengthening the promotional strategy based on Brazilian culture, particularly music and the audiovisual sector, and using them to attract tourists.
The number of Portuguese tourists in Brazil in 2025 reached 273,483, the highest figure recorded since 2007, up more than 25% from 2024.
This figure is surpassed only by the 280,438 recorded in 2007, according to Embratur.
Brazil welcomed 9.3 million foreign tourists in 2025, a record figure and 37.1% higher than in 2024.
As well as significantly exceeding the 6.8 million foreign tourists welcomed in 2024, which was a record, Brazil also managed to far exceed the target (6.9 million) of visitors set for 2025.
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