By LCN Business Desk
Anguilla spent last week selling itself in Rio de Janeiro. Three months earlier, in São Paulo, a cruise line and an airline had already finished building the product the island is now bidding for.
What did Anguilla actually do?
A sales and media mission in Rio de Janeiro from 30 October to 3 November, and a luxury trade show before it.
The Anguilla Tourist Board describes itself as strengthening its positioning within the South America market, building on its participation in Virtuoso On Tour, Latin America, held from 27 to 29 October. Virtuoso is a network of luxury travel agencies, which places the pitch where Anguilla's hotel stock sits rather than in the mass market.
Separately, the board told its followers that Brazilian travellers spent US$21.7 billion abroad in 2025, a 10.4 per cent increase over 2024, and that the growth highlights an opportunity for Anguilla.
How big is the market, and is that the right number?
Bigger than the figure quoted, because 2026 is well ahead of 2025.
| Brazilian travel expenditure abroad | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full year | US$17.97bn | US$19.86bn | US$21.98bn | not yet complete |
| January to September | US$13.42bn | US$14.73bn | US$16.38bn | US$19.28bn |
Banco Central do Brasil, series 22742, "Viagens - mensal - despesa", read on 9 November 2026. Balance-of-payments debits in United States dollars, covering business, personal, education and health travel.
The central bank's series puts 2025 at US$21.98 billion and the increase at 10.7 per cent, which is the board's finding reached separately and within US$0.28 billion of it. The nine months since are running 17.7 per cent above the same period of 2025, a rise of US$2.90 billion, and July was the largest single month in the series at US$2.46 billion.
Scope matters as much as vintage. That headline covers business, education and health travel. The central bank publishes the personal, other-including-tourism subset separately, and it came to US$14.64 billion in 2025, about a third smaller than the figure in circulation.
Who else in the Caribbean is going after Brazilians?
The Dominican Republic, with a ship, an airline, a hotel chain and no visa step.
MSC Cruises gathered travel agents, partners and media in São Paulo in August to launch fly-cruise Caribbean packages for the Brazilian market, as DataPortuaria reported. The MSC Opera sails year-round from La Romana from this month. The package, built with GOL Linhas Aéreas and Hilton, carries flights, transfers, a seven-night cruise and a two-night resort stay, on regular São Paulo to Punta Cana services.
Three details in that account describe a finished product rather than a campaign. Lígia Auricchio, GOL's special sales manager, said the airline "set the flight time exactly when MSC needed it for the hotel and package check-in and check-out". The resort was chosen for being under twenty minutes from the embarkation port. And Rafael Grosso, MSC's commercial manager in Brazil, said Brazilian residents "do not need any specific visas to board the ship in the Dominican Republic".
MSC sells a comparable Brazilian product for cruises leaving Martinique, so the eastern Caribbean is on the map already, reached by sea rather than by an island's own airlift.
What decides which destination gets the booking?
A scheduled route and an absent visa, on the evidence of what happened when one country removed a step.
Spending capacity is not the constraint on the figures above. This newspaper reported in September that Mexico put Brazil's visa process online and applications tripled, while Guyanese travellers still queued at the Mexican embassy.
A Brazilian flying to Anguilla connects, and the common connections run through North America or Europe. A routing through the United States means a United States visa for a Brazilian passport holder whatever the final destination, which is a requirement no Caribbean tourist board can lift. The Dominican Republic package removes that step, because it flies direct and boards a ship rather than transiting a third country.
Why does this matter beyond one island?
Travel is most of what the region sells to the world.
CARICOM's services trade runs a surplus above US$7.2 billion and travel is 82 per cent of it, on figures this newspaper reported in October. A source market adding US$2.90 billion of spending in nine months is a line item in the region's exports, not a marketing opportunity for whoever reaches it first.
Brazil is also the one large outbound market in the hemisphere sharing a land border with CARICOM, through Guyana. Everything above moves by air and sea. What the land border carries is a separate question, and no destination has yet built a product on it.
The entities
- Anguilla Tourist Board is the destination marketing organisation that ran a sales and media mission in Rio de Janeiro from 30 October to 3 November 2026. - Virtuoso is the luxury travel agency network whose On Tour, Latin America event Anguilla attended from 27 to 29 October 2026, placing its pitch with the agents who sell high-end Caribbean stays. - Banco Central do Brasil is Brazil's central bank, which publishes the monthly travel expenditure series 22742 and the tourism subset 22757. - MSC Cruises is the cruise line competing with Anguilla for the same Brazilian traveller. It launched fly-cruise Caribbean packages at a São Paulo event in August 2026, and its MSC Opera sails year-round from La Romana in the Dominican Republic from November. - GOL Linhas Aéreas is the Brazilian airline that supplies the air leg Anguilla does not have, operating the São Paulo to Punta Cana services in that package and timing them to its check-in. - Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is the regional body whose services trade surplus exceeds US$7.2 billion, with travel at 82 per cent of it.
What the title card says
- Headline: Anguilla courted Brazilian travellers in Rio last week, and the Dominican Republic already has a ship, a hotel and a GOL route. - Anguilla's sales and media mission in Rio de Janeiro: 30 October to 3 November 2026. - Virtuoso On Tour, Latin America: 27 to 29 October 2026. - Brazilian travel spending abroad, January to September 2026: US$19.28 billion. - The same nine months of 2025: US$16.38 billion. - The increase: 17.7 per cent, or US$2.90 billion. - The figure the Anguilla Tourist Board used: US$21.7 billion for 2025. - The tourism subset of that year: US$14.64 billion. - MSC Opera from La Romana: year-round from November 2026. - Source: Banco Central do Brasil series 22742 and 22757, the Anguilla Tourist Board, and DataPortuaria's report of 12 August 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did the Anguilla Tourist Board do in Brazil?
It ran a sales and media mission in Rio de Janeiro from 30 October to 3 November 2026, after taking part in Virtuoso On Tour, Latin America, from 27 to 29 October.
How much are Brazilians spending on travel abroad?
US$19.28 billion in the first nine months of 2026 against US$16.38 billion in the same months of 2025, on Banco Central do Brasil series 22742. The full year of 2025 came to US$21.98 billion.
What is the Dominican Republic offering Brazilians?
A package built by MSC Cruises with GOL Linhas Aéreas and Hilton: flights, transfers, a seven-night cruise aboard the MSC Opera sailing year-round from La Romana, and a two-night resort stay, on regular São Paulo to Punta Cana services.
Do Brazilians need a visa for these destinations?
MSC's commercial manager in Brazil said Brazilian residents do not need any specific visas to board the ship in the Dominican Republic. A routing through the United States requires a United States visa for a Brazilian passport holder regardless of the final destination.
How much of Brazilian travel spending is tourism rather than business?
The central bank's personal, other-including-tourism subset came to US$14.64 billion in 2025, against the US$21.98 billion all-travel total for the same year.