Dazed and confused? An exploratory study of the image of Brazil as a travel destination

The tourism industry in Brazil has been growing sharply in the past few years. Among its visitors, US citizens are one of the most important and attractive markets for the Brazilian tourism industry. It is believed, however, that most Americans still know little about Brazil and what it has to offer. This study had three objectives: determine the images that American citizens interested in travel and tourism have of Brazil as a travel destination, determine if they differentiate Brazil from neighbouring Hispanic countries and group them according to similar images of Brazil. Online discussion groups on travel and tourism were used to obtain a sample of this population. The results indicated that ‘natural attractions/interest’ and ‘vacation atmosphere/exoticness’ were the two most important images of Brazil among the respondents. The results also indicated that respondents were unable to differentiate Brazil from Hispanic countries.