Brazilians Lead City's Tourism Charge

It's now the heart of the city's tourist season, and more Portuguese is being heard around Times Square than ever before.

Brazilians are the fastest-growing tourist population in New York City, according to a report released this week by the city's tourism agency. In 2007, about 251,000 Brazilian citizens visited the city — a 66% increase over 2006.

"This is a country that's come out of a deep economic crisis," the director of Columbia University's Center for Brazilian Studies, Thomas Trebat, said. "You had 15 years of repressed demand for travel to the U.S."

Since 2003, the Brazilian economy has been showing record trade surpluses, has seen consistent growth in GDP, and has become the 11th biggest economy in the world, according to the CIA.

There may be other factors at work as well, a professor at New York University's Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Shepard Forman, said.

"I'd be very surprised if it's just the economy that's doing it," Mr. Forman said. "Those tourism numbers surprise me, because when it comes to Brazil, the general discussion is about how difficult it is to get a visa to the United States."

The visa screening process has become more arduous since the attacks of September 11, 2001. However, Brazilian tourists said the fashion and glamour of New York made the obstacles worthwhile.

At Ipanema Restaurant in Midtown yesterday, Carlos Eduardo said he and his family had to go through a three-week application process, travel more than 800 miles from their hometown to get to the American consulate in Sao Paulo, and then endure a six-hour waiting period to get their visas. He said he is "enchanted" with the city, seeing famous sights, attending a Broadway play, and, most of all, shopping.

A spokeswoman for the Consulate General of Brazil in New York, Edvania Leite, said she hadn't known the numbers were so high until she heard about the report.

She said the relative weakness of the dollar against the Brazilian currency and the South American nation's recent economic boom were probably motivating the travelers.

"When you go to the stores, you see Brazilians shopping," Ms. Leite said. "And everybody wants to come to New York because Brazilians watch a lot of television and movies and they see it there."

Spending sprees are common, Mr. Forman said. "You land in the country and stock up on your family's clothing needs for the year at a lower cost than in Brazil," he said.

The runners-up in terms of tourism growth were India and Argentina, both of which showed 47% increases.

The most tourists came from Britain, with 1.7 million visitors, followed by Canada, with about 880,000 visitors, and Germany, with nearly 550,000 visitors. In 2007, New York City set a record by hosting 8.7 million foreign tourists.

Another tourist, Henrique Gaede, said he and his family spent more on their trip to Sao Paulo for a visa than they spent in America. Nevertheless, Mr. Gaede said he had a theory as to why Brazilians are coming in such huge numbers.

"Brazilians are sort of like Americans," he said with a laugh. "We like to spend a lot of money, just like you guys."