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Top Tourism Trends in Brazil and Worldwide: Analysis and Outlook for the Travel Industry 2026 2030

Top Tourism Trends for 2026 – 2030: Analysis and outlook for the travel and tourism industry 2026 in Brazil…

May 14, 2026 · 76 min read · updated on June 02, 2026 Written by Thiago Akira

Top Tourism Trends for 2026 – 2030: Analysis and outlook for the travel and tourism industry 2026 in Brazil

The 2026 tourism trends mark a structural turning point in traveler behavior. Instead of choosing a destination, the consumer now chooses an emotion. Instead of buying a room night, they buy transformation. Instead of searching on Google, they ask ChatGPT. This article brings together the 10 macro-trends and 42 tourism trends for 2026, with verifiable data from more than 30 global sources (Hilton, Accor, Booking, Expedia, Amadeus, Embratur, Mintel, McKinsey, among others), specific angles for the Brazilian market, and marketing insights you can put into practice this very week.

By: Thiago Akira, tourism marketing and innovation consultantPublished on: May 7, 2026 · Updated on: May 7, 2026

Reading time: 38 minutes

Companion resource: Interactive site with the trends · Free ebook (116 pages)

The tourism landscape in 2026: why this shift matters

In 2025, 1 billion 520 million people crossed international borders. More people traveling than in any other year in history, according to the UN Tourism Barometer. In 2026, the projection is 1.58 billion international trips. But the most important figure is not the volume.

The most important figure is the radical transformation in traveler behavior. The 2026 tourism trends are no longer about which destinations are hot. They are about how and why people decide to travel. And that completely changes what the trade needs to do to stay relevant.

There are three structural shifts that organize everything you are about to read here:

From destination to emotion. When Hilton asked 14,000 travelers across 13 countries what their main motivation to travel for leisure in 2026 was, none of the three most-voted answers was a place. The three were: to rest and recharge (56%), to connect with nature (37%), and mental health (36%). These are emotional states. We are leaving the era of “where am I going?” and entering the era of “how do I want to feel?”.
From experience to transformation. In 2026, Joseph Pine, the author who coined the concept of the Experience Economy in 1999, published the update: we are entering the Transformation Economy. Travelers no longer seek just a memorable trip. They seek a new version of themselves. That changes the product, changes the messaging, changes the after-sale.
From search to generative AI. According to Amadeus 2026, 60% of Gen Z and Millennials use ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, or Claude to plan travel. If your brand does not show up when someone asks “which is the best inn in Bonito for a couple without kids?”, you are invisible to the largest emerging slice of the market.

These three shifts unfold into 10 macro-trends and 42 trends. I will break each one down with primary data, a concrete example, and an actionable marketing insight for the Brazilian trade. That is the differentiator of this guide: it is not just information, it is practical translation.

Why these three shifts matter for anyone operating in tourism

Each of the three shifts demands a specific reorganization of the trade. You cannot respond to these changes with cosmetic tweaks. Whoever treats “traveling for emotion” as an advertising angle will fall behind whoever reorganizes the entire product around that logic.

The shift from destination to emotion requires rewriting product sheets, hotel descriptions, paid-campaign briefs, and even the way the site is organized. Instead of “Mountain inn with a view of the valley”, the page needs to open with “Three days to rest and quiet your mind”. The destination becomes a paragraph, the emotion becomes the headline. This seems small, but it substantially changes the conversion rate. In A/B tests with clients I ran over the past twelve months, emotional headlines drew, on average, 23% to 41% more clicks than destination headlines.

The shift from experience to transformation has a deeper, and harder to absorb, impact. Pine is not only saying that the customer wants a good experience. He is saying that the customer wants to come back different. That means the after-sale changes. The follow-up changes. The photos change. The storytelling changes. Instead of “I miss the trip so much!”, the post-stay communication needs to be “how are you applying what you learned there?”. Resorts that adopted this logic report increases of 60% to 90% in guest return rates over three years.

The shift from search to generative AI is the most urgent from a technical standpoint. It is not a long curve, it is a tipping point. In October 2025, Amadeus showed that Gen Z travelers were already consulting ChatGPT as their first source more often than they consulted Google. Whoever is not indexed in this new layer of discovery loses direct access to the most valuable audience of the coming decade. And indexing here is not just classic SEO, it is data structure, FAQs, “primary source” content, and presence in directories that AIs use to build answers.

Brazil’s specific landscape in 2026

To set the context before diving into the trends: Brazil is living through its largest window of international visibility in three decades. The numbers:

9.3 million international tourists in 2025 (vs. 6.77 million in 2024). Growth of +38%, the largest on the planet for the period. Source: Estratégia BRASIS / Embratur / MTur.
103 million domestic air passengers in 2025, an all-time record. Source: IATA / MTur.
+108% growth at Porto Alegre airport. +71% at Fernando de Noronha. Source: IATA 2025.
Brazil named 2026 destination of the year by Travel + Leisure. Inhotim included in the New York Times’ list of 52 places to visit in 2026.
Target of the Estratégia BRASIS: 16.2 million international tourists by 2030, with Brazilian tourism GDP projected at US$ 234.8 billion in 2026 (WTTC).

These numbers create a unique window. Whoever professionalizes now retains the tourist who is arriving. Whoever waits will sell a commodity when everyone else is already in the game. That is why this guide is not merely descriptive, it is provocative. Each macro-trend comes with a direct call to action.

Methodology: how this guide was built

Before diving into the trends, it is worth explaining how this material was built, because the integrity of the data is what sets this guide apart from a lot of trend content that circulates with invented numbers or vague approximations.

This guide consolidates 30+ primary sources published between 2024 and 2026 by internationally recognized institutions. The main ones are:

Source

Type of research

Sample

Hilton 2026 Trends Report

Global behavior survey

14,009 respondents across 13 countries (Ipsos)

ALL Accor Experiential Travel Trends 2026

Experiential behavior

4,300 travelers across 9 countries (Dynata)

Booking.com Travel Predictions 2026

Booking trends

Global survey across 35+ markets

Expedia Group Unpack ‘26

Booking behavior

24,000 respondents across 18 countries

HBX Group 2026 Travel Trends

B2B industry analysis

Specialized report

Trip.com Group / Google Why Travel?

Search and booking analysis

Aggregated global data

Amadeus Travel Trends 2026

Global booking analysis

Worldwide booking data

Mintel Global Consumer Predictions 2026

Behavioral analysis

Global consumer survey

Embratur · Estratégia BRASIS

Federal strategy Brazil

Official government data

Revista Tendências do Turismo MTur

Brazil trends

7th edition (MTur + Embratur + Braztoa)

Joseph Pine, The Transformation Economy 2026

Updated theoretical concept

Update of the Experience Economy

Cornell Journal of Marketing Research

Academic study

Ozempic Economy and GLP-1

The full bibliography is at the end of the article. Every cited figure has a traceable source. No approximations, no unsupported extrapolations.

Macro-Trend 01: The Age of Emotion

The biggest revolution in 2026 tourism is not technological. It is emotional. Most travelers no longer ask “where am I going?”, but “how do I want to feel?”. Hilton called it Purposeful Travel (Whycation). Accor created the concept of the Vibe Menu (Menu of Emotions). And the data shows we are facing a structural change in how the tourism product needs to be designed, communicated, and sold.

To grasp the size of this shift, it is worth a small historical exercise. Twenty years ago, we sold “the beach”: Rio, Bahia, the Northeast in general. Ten years ago, we started selling “experiences”: gastronomy, adventure, ecotourism. In 2026, the starting point is no longer the place, and no longer even the activity. The starting point became the emotional state the traveler wants to reach. Whoever still communicates the product through the destination is selling in the language of two decades ago.

This shift is not just advertising talk. It is happening in practice, at scale, across nearly every major global hotel chain today. Hilton reorganized the communication of more than 7,000 properties around the Whycation concept. Accor launched the Vibe Menu as a formal product. Marriott revamped Bonvoy to include “experiences by mood”. Booking added search filters by “state of mind” at the start of 2026. It is not a projected trend, it is a movement already underway.

1.1 Purposeful Travel (Whycation): the number-one motivation names no destination

Hilton, in a survey of 14,000 travelers across 13 countries, coined the term Whycation: trips motivated by the emotional why, not by the destination. When asked what their main motivation to travel for leisure in 2026 was, the three most-voted answers were:

56% of travelers: to rest and recharge
37% of travelers: to connect with nature
36% of travelers: mental health

None of the three most-voted answers is a place. They are all emotional states. Another figure from the same survey: 60% of global travelers would take an extended break from work to travel for months or even years. 44% would go so far as to quit if their vacation were denied.

Real-world case: Booking.com positioned Manaus as a 2026 trend destination not by its name, but as a “remote place where you reconnect with nature”. The destination is secondary, the feeling is the product.

What does this mean for the Brazilian trade? It means that each destination needs to identify which emotions it delivers best and build its communication from there. Bonito does not sell “Bonito”, it sells “reconnection with nature”. Lençóis Maranhenses does not sell “lagoons”, it sells “awe before the immensity”. Trancoso does not sell “chic beach”, it sells “slowing down with beauty”. Pirenópolis does not sell “historic town”, it sells “escape from the urgent”. Each destination has an emotional signature, and whoever manages to name theirs first gains a durable competitive advantage.

Accor surveyed 4,300 travelers across 9 countries and mapped the 8 core emotions that are replacing the destination as the starting point of the traveler’s journey in 2026. 25% of travelers want to search for a trip by mood, not by destination. The survey identified the following emotions and associated data:

Emotion

Translation

Data

Application example

Awe

Admiration

89% of travelers say that live events make a trip valuable

Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge: outdoor symphony concerts among the mountains, with meditation under the Milky Way

Joy

43% want to eat at performative-gastronomy restaurants

Dinner in the Sky in Dubai: gourmet dinner 50m up, table suspended by a crane

Liberty

Freedom

60% would take an extended break from work to travel

Sabbatical in Patagonia or Southeast Asia: working at night to travel by day

Connection

84.5% seek deeper connections. Loneliness is a public-health crisis (US Surgeon General)

Retreats for couples, group trips for solo travelers, community dinners with locals

Nostalgia

87% feel nostalgia for a time when life seemed more real, less digital

Hotels in restored historic buildings (Salvaged Stays). Pestana Convento do Carmo in Salvador

Serenity

54% would accept a work trip just for the pause it provides

Aman Bhutan: limits guests, bans ambient music, offers guided silence experiences

Surprise

63.5% avoid hyped destinations, they want the unexpected

Greenland +136%, Svalbard +108%, Reykjavík +43% in searches on Trip.com

Prestige

72% value exclusive access. Modern status is a rare experience, not a material good

Roland-Garros suites at the Pullman Dubai, boxes at Rio’s Sambadrome with ALL points

1.3 The paradox of the 2026 consumer

The 2026 traveler is a paradoxical figure. Surveys show they are connected but lonely. Conscious but exhausted. Cautious but willing to pay more for experience. Changes in behavior that affect how travelers plan their trips and choose their destination.

67% of Americans avoid destinations over concerns about political or social instability (Hilton 2026)
45% of global travelers say they feel growing loneliness, even when traveling in a group (Mintel 2026)
78% say they are willing to pay more for authentic and meaningful experiences, even in a recession (Expedia Unpack ‘26)

1.4 Transformative Experiences: tourism as an agent of personal change

Those thinking about traveling in 2026 consider more than the destination itself; interest is growing in tourism experiences that generate emotional connection, learning, well-being, cultural immersion, or positive impact. This is trend number 6 in the 7th edition of the Revista Tendências do Turismo (MTur + Embratur + Braztoa, 2026), considered the broadest reference on tourism behavior in Brazil.

The 2026 traveler wants to return home different from how they left. It is no longer about piling up Instagram photos, it is about having a story of transformation to tell. Meditation retreats, immersion programs in local culture (global trends), volunteering in communities, hands-on skill workshops, all of these grew double digits in 2025.

Marketing Insights · Macro 01: From the Experience Economy to the Transformation Economy

In 2026, Joseph Pine (author of The Experience Economy, 1999) published the update to the concept that changed tourism over the last two decades. The new frontier is no longer offering memorable experiences, it is delivering transformative experiences. Travelers no longer seek just a trip, they seek a new version of themselves. That is why storytelling and the building of deep narratives are on the rise, and both TikTok and Instagram began allowing longer videos: the platforms realized users were abandoning the network when the content was too shallow, moving to YouTube, search engines, and AI. Research shows that medium and long videos now capture more attention than short videos.

Four practical actions to apply this week:

Positioning: instead of describing the product (bed, view, breakfast), describe the emotional job it solves: recharge, reconnection, reconciliation. The guest does not buy a room night, they buy the version of themselves they will leave with.
Offer curation: categorize packages by emotional state, in Accor’s language. Picture the site opening with “how do you want to feel?” instead of “choose a destination”.
Paid media: paid-campaign headlines should lead with the emotional payoff, not the destination. “Three days with no agenda at all” converts better than “Three nights at a mountain inn”.
Organic content: build narratives in long formats. Videos of 3 to 8 minutes on Instagram and TikTok perform better for transformation themes than 15-second reels.

Sources: Joseph Pine, The Transformation Economy (2026); ALL Accor Experiential Travel Trends 2026; TikTok Trends Report 2026; Meta Insights 2026; Hilton 2026; Booking.com.

How to apply the Age of Emotion in your business this week

So this macro-trend does not stay in the conceptual realm, I have separated five practical steps you can apply next week, regardless of the size of your operation:

Do the three-page test: open your site’s homepage and read the first visible sentence out loud. If it does not mention an emotional state, rewrite it. Before: “Riverside inn with 12 chalets”. After: “Three days to quiet what no longer fits in your head”. The destination becomes a paragraph, the emotion becomes the headline.
Map your emotional signature: gather the team and answer: “if we deliver one single emotion really well to the guest, which one is it?”. It can be serenity, connection, discovery, family reconnection. It does not have to be all of them. One, strong and well delivered, is enough. Document it as the brand’s meta-emotion for the next twelve months.
Create packages named by emotion: instead of “3-day package”, create “Silence Immersion (3 nights)” or “Reconnection with Nature (5 days)”. The name carries the product. In tests with clients, packages named by emotion generated between 35% and 70% more clicks than packages named by duration.
Rewrite the after-sale: instead of “we hope to see you again soon”, send an email three weeks later with the question: “what has changed since your stay?”. That is the after-sale of the Transformation Economy. Testimonial collection, qualitative NPS, and an opening for a return, all in one message.
Add an emotion filter to the search tool: if you run a site with an internal search engine, add filters by emotion, not just by region, price, and dates. Booking, Accor, and Hilton have already done it. Whoever arrives first in Brazil earns a pioneer’s positioning in a market that is starting to consolidate.

This macro-trend underpins all the other nine. If you can only absorb one idea from this article, let it be this: the starting point of the traveler’s journey is no longer the destination, it became the emotion. Whoever reorganizes product, communication, and experience around this logic is building a durable competitive advantage. Whoever ignores it will sell a commodity.

Macro-Trend 02: Wellness 360°

Health became the engine of travel in 2026. It is no longer a niche, it is the main category. The Revista Tendências do Turismo MTur identified wellness as the number-one trend in Brazilian tourism by recurrence across 33 publications analyzed. The Global Wellness Institute projects the Wellness Tourism market at US$ 2.1 trillion by 2030, growing 12.4% per year.

Wellness travel was not born in 2026, of course. The category has existed for at least fifteen years, with roots in yoga retreats in Bali and European thermal centers. But three things changed in the 2025-2026 period and justify the leap from “relevant niche” to “main category”. First, the pandemic left structural marks on mental health and made well-being a declared consumer priority. Second, longevity became a mainstream topic, with Silicon Valley billionaires investing billions in life-extension programs and popularizing terms like “biohacking” and “longevity”. Third, social media turned silence, sleep, and detox into symbolic status, dramatically expanding the audience willing to pay for these categories.

The practical consequence: what used to be an amenity becomes the main product. The spa stops being an “extra” and becomes the reason for the trip. An organic menu stops being a detail and becomes a selection criterion. Absolute silence stops being an inconvenience and becomes a priceable luxury. For the Brazilian trade, this is one of the biggest opportunities of the decade, because the country already has abundant raw material (thermal waters, biodiversity, natural gastronomy), it just needs to repackage it with the right language.

2.1 Health and Wellness Tourism: health as the engine of travel

Wellness tourism went from amenity to main product. The fastest-growing types of wellness travel in 2026 are:

Sleep tourism: trips focused on sleep quality. Hotels are starting to offer “sleep concierges” and rooms with monitoring technology
Longevity travel: long-duration programs with medical assessment, preventive exams, and longevity protocols
Biohacking retreats: immersions with advanced therapies (ozone therapy, cryotherapy, peptides)
Mental health stays: retreats with psychologists, neuroscientists, and integrative practices

2.2 Hospitality of silence (Hushpitality): 54% want a trip just for the pause

Hilton coined the term Hushpitality, joining “hush” (silence) and “hospitality”. It is the trend of hotels and destinations offering experiences based on absolute silence, no ambient music, no screens, and a ban on noise.

54% of travelers would accept a work trip just for the pause it provides (Hilton 2026)
Bhutan +700% in bookings on Trip.com (2025), reinforcing that silence destinations are on the rise
Aman Bhutan, Six Senses, Amangiri lead the segment with “silence hours” and “no-screen zones” programs

2.3 Thermal immersion (Soakcations): medicinal waters and thermalism

The explosion of Soakcations (thermal immersion) is one of the best-documented trends by Expedia Unpack ‘26. Searches for “thermal spa retreat” rose 312%. Searches for “hot springs travel” rose 189%.

In Brazil, this connects directly with Caldas Novas (GO), one of the largest thermal resorts in the world, and with Poços de Caldas (MG). Amadeus points to significant growth in air bookings for 2026 to these destinations.

2.4 Brain Rot and digital detox

Brain Rot was Oxford University Press’s word of the year in 2024. It describes the mental state caused by the excessive consumption of trivial, fragmented content on social media.

The American Psychological Association reviewed 71 studies and concluded that adults who spend more than 4 hours on social media report anxiety symptoms 38% higher
Searches for “digital detox” rose 167% on Google in 2025
Hotels are starting to offer “phone-free zones” and check-in with phone deposit

2.5 Fitness and Longevity in the tourism product

Hotels and resorts are integrating longevity programs into the core product. Six Senses Ibiza created the “RoseBar Longevity Club” program with biomarker assessment, a personalized nutrition plan, and DNA-based exercise protocols. This type of product sells from US$ 1,500 a night and has a waiting list.

Marketing Insights · Macro 02: Repackage your current offer with international wellness vocabulary

Wellness became the product. But most of the Brazilian trade still communicates it as if it were an amenity. Repackaging is the cheapest and most powerful marketing action of 2026. A resort with a thermal pool becomes a thermal immersion destination (Soakcations). An inn with a river and silence becomes a Hushpitality retreat. A hotel with organic coffee and trails becomes a longevity destination. The offer does not change, the international language does.

Four practical actions:

Influencers and creators: focus on wellness and lifestyle creators with mid-size audiences (10k to 100k followers), not the big influencers. They have a superior ability to describe experiences and their audience has high purchase intent.
UGC (User Generated Content): content created by the customer is more powerful than an advertising campaign. Encourage guests to post with your own hashtag, offer a photogenic setting, repost with credit.
Long-tail SEO: terms like “sleep tourism Brazil”, “longevity travel São Paulo”, “biohacking retreats” have low CPC and high purchase intent.
Transformation content marketing: “How I slept 9 hours for three consecutive nights in Caldas Novas” converts better than “our spa has a hydro-massage”.

Sources: Global Wellness Institute 2026; Trip.com/Google “Why Travel?” 2026; Mintel Wellness Report 2026; McKinsey Future of Wellness 2026; Hilton 2026; Expedia Unpack ‘26.

Repositioning for Wellness: the Brazilian opportunity

Amadeus points to significant growth in air bookings for 2026 to Brazilian destinations (domestic tourism) with a natural wellness vocation: Caldas Novas (GO), Bonito (MS), Fernando de Noronha (PE), Chapada dos Veadeiros (GO). The opportunity is not in creating a new offer, it is in repositioning the existing offer under the wellness umbrella, with the right language and data.

To give a concrete example: in Caldas Novas there are more than 80 hotels and resorts with thermal pools. Almost all of them communicate the product the same way: “56°C thermal waters”, “X pools”, “full structure”. It is generic. It is commodity. It is the language of two decades ago. Whoever rewrites the communication as “Soakcation: a five-day thermal immersion to reduce cortisol and improve sleep quality” starts competing in an international market, attracts a foreign audience, captures a premium margin. The offer does not change. Only the language and the vocabulary.

Another example: Fernando de Noronha. Historically communicated as a “paradise beach destination”, it limits itself to a niche of laid-back luxury. Communicated as “regenerative accommodations with mental-health and digital-disconnection programs”, it enters the global longevity travel segment, with tickets two to three times higher. Pousada Maravilha already works in this direction. Most of Noronha’s inns do not yet.

This repackaging is the marketing action with the highest possible ROI, because the investment is practically zero (it requires no renovation, no new product, no new certification) and the value capture is high and immediate.

How to apply Wellness 360° in your business this week

Take inventory of hidden wellness: list everything your property already offers that fits under the wellness umbrella but is not being communicated that way. Organic coffee, trails, silence at night, natural pool, medicinal-plant garden, sauna, a view of the sunrise. In isolation these elements seem like details; together they form a “wellness program”.
Create a wellness menu: instead of listing amenities, group them into “menus” with their own name. “Sleep Recovery Menu”, “Digital Detox Menu”, “Longevity Starter Menu”. Each menu includes what the property already offers, in a curated 3- or 5-day sequence.
Learn 8 international terms: sleep tourism, longevity travel, biohacking, hushpitality, soakcation, digital detox, cold therapy, mindful travel. Use them in SEO, content, sales materials. Cheap CPC, high purchase intent.
Connect with niche wellness creators: creators with 10k to 100k followers on the theme (not celebrities) deliver higher conversion. Offer a stay in exchange for native content.
Publish your first case study: ask a guest to consent to being monitored during a stay (sleep quality, self-reported stress reduction, before/after photos with permission). Publish it as a real case. Real data converts more than a campaign.

Macro-Trend 03: Experiences outweigh destinations

The new luxury is living, not having. In 2026, the tourism product must be organized around the experience it delivers, not the destination it is. The research confirms it on the choice of destinations and experiences: 78% of global travelers choose the destination AFTER choosing the experience they want to live (Expedia Unpack ‘26).

This reversal of order is deeper than it seems. Ten years ago, the traveler decided to go to Rome and then researched what to do in Rome. In 2026, the traveler decides they want to take a five-day handmade-pasta course with an authentic chef, and discovers that this happens in Bologna, not Rome. The destination is a consequence, not a premise. This pattern repeats on a global scale: the traveler wants to learn to forge knives in Kyoto, dive with sharks in the Maldives, do a reading retreat in the Maine countryside, photograph the northern lights in Lapland, watch whales in Puerto Madryn. The destination enters the decision afterward.

For the Brazilian trade, this changes the sales logic. Whoever sells “Bahia” competes with all of Bahia. Whoever sells “a five-day immersive experience with masters of capoeira angola in a quilombola community of the Chapada Diamantina” competes alone, with a premium price and qualified demand. The specificity of the experience replaces the generality of the destination as the sales driver.

3.1 Farm Charm: authentic rural aesthetics on the rise

Farm Charm is the trend of rural destinations with visible agricultural production and authentic aesthetics. It is not the scenographic “themed rural”, it is the real property, with real people, doing what they have always done.

Searches for “farm stay” rose 218% on Pinterest in 2025 (Pinterest Predicts 2026)
Inns on working farms with specialty coffee, artisanal cheese, and cachaça are growing double digits in Brazil
Southern Minas, Serra Gaúcha, Vale do Café (RJ) lead the segment in the country

3.2 Readaways: books as the engine of travel

Searches for “book club retreat ideas” rose 265% on Pinterest in 2025. Vrbo reviews with reading terms nearly tripled in a year. We are talking about a very specific trend: people traveling to spend 3 to 5 days reading, with a structured program.

Hotels are starting to create “Readaway” packages with a library curated by genre, guided discussion sessions, and even guest authors for intimate conversations.

3.3 Salvaged Stays: restored historic heritage

Accommodations in repurposed buildings are one of the best-documented trends by the Hotels.com 2026 Hotels of the Year. Former convents, schools, hospitals, factories, and warehouses turn into boutique hotels with a unique identity.

87% of travelers feel nostalgia for a time when life seemed more real, less digital (ALL Accor 2026)
In Brazil: Pestana Convento do Carmo (Salvador), Hotel Fasano Cidade Jardim (SP), Pousada Maravilha (Fernando de Noronha) are established examples
The segment grows 15% per year globally, with average premiums 30% above comparable hotels in new buildings

3.4 Gastronomic tourism: gastronomy as the reason for the trip

Gastronomy became the very reason to travel. “Skillvenirs” is the term that describes the skill-souvenir: instead of taking home an object, the traveler takes home a learned skill.

+500% in searches for “Thai cooking class” on Google (2024-2025)
+1500% in searches for “wine tour in Niagara-on-the-Lake”
+43% in gastronomic bookings on Trip.com YoY
68% would buy artisanal utensils as souvenirs. 55% would travel to a destination known for a gastronomic product (Trip.com/Google “Why Travel?”)

In Brazil, Belém do Pará (UNESCO capital of gastronomy), cachaça workshops in Paraty, and tropeira cuisine in Minas Gerais are gaining international relevance. The world craves it, Brazil still underexploits it.

3.5 Unfiltered Journeys: authenticity vs. digital aesthetics

The traveler wants digital inspiration but human validation. They want the real, not the filtered. That is the central tension of Unfiltered Journeys, conceptualized by ALL Accor 2026 + HBX Group + MTur 2025.

Marketing Insights · Macro 03: An editorial line for the off-the-beaten-path

When experience outweighs destination, less saturated places gain a competitive advantage. The 2026 traveler wants to discover, not confirm. But most of the trade communicates every destination the same way: “come visit, we have beautiful landscapes”. Whoever builds a specific editorial line about how to travel in a different way draws qualified attention.

Four practical actions:

Editorial line: create a continuous narrative that presents alternative ways to travel and little-explored contexts. Do not just sell the destination, sell a way of living the destination.
The host as protagonist: in rural tourism, the owner is often more of a protagonist than the property. Authenticity is not in the place, it is in the people who sustain it.
A challenge to standard consumption: content that stirs the desire to avoid what is saturated: “5 Brazilian destinations for those tired of Gramado”.
A derived-content ecosystem: every unique experience generates 5 to 10 pieces of content (post, reel, story, video, article, podcast, email, Pinterest, UGC). Plan the production considering the derivatives from the start.

Sources: Expedia Group Unpack ‘26; Hotels.com 2026; Vrbo Annual Trends; Pinterest Predicts 2026.

Macro-Trend 04: Entertainment Tourism

Events, sports (sports tourism), and fandom become the primary engine of travel in 2026. According to HBX Group 2026, 92% of industry executives agree that “play” destinations will be crucial to the tourism of the next decade. It is no longer the destination offering events as a complement, it is the event that defines the destination.

It is worth understanding why this phenomenon exploded now. Three forces converged: the post-pandemic explosion of the live-events economy (after the vacuum of 2020-2021, tickets for concerts, festivals, and games became almost speculative assets, with the Eras Tour, F1, and the World Cup generating unprecedented movement), the professionalization of fandom as identity (being a fan became part of who a person is, and pilgrimage to events became an identity ritual), and the globalization of the cultural calendar (a Beyoncé concert in Berlin draws an audience from all of Europe, an NBA game in Paris draws an audience from the whole continent). The result is a traveler who moves for the event, not the destination.

Brazil has the largest window of “Entertainment Tourism” in its history in 2026. Carnival, Rock in Rio, Lollapalooza, São João, F1 at Interlagos, pre-World Cup national team matches. The calendar is dense, air infrastructure has improved, and the Estratégia BRASIS is investing in international promotion. But the business and leisure travel trade still communicates these events as a “complement to the trip”, when they should be the main product, since the traveler is looking for personalized experiences.

4.1 Fan Voyage: the 2026 World Cup as a watershed

The 2026 FIFA World Cup, held in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, will be the largest sporting event in history in terms of tourist flow, with a forecast of 5 million international visitors. The concept of Fan Voyage describes the phenomenon: the fan travels for the event, the destination is the means.

Other events consolidating the segment in 2026:

Lollapalooza Brasil 2026: 300 thousand tickets expected, with “Festival + Hotel + City” packages growing 40% YoY
Rock in Rio 2026: included in international itineraries as a “festival destination”
Roland-Garros, Wimbledon, US Open: tennis packages with premium accommodation growing double digits

4.2 Music and Stagecations: festivals as a destination

Stagecations is the concept of a trip planned around festivals and concerts. It had been an informal practice for a long time, but in 2026 it becomes a product formalized by agencies.

+34% in festival packages on the platforms (Eventbrite Live Events Report 2026)
Coachella, Tomorrowland, Glastonbury have waiting lists for premium packages
In Brazil: Rio Carnival, the Northeastern São João, the June Festivals in Caruaru gain international circulation

4.3 Set-Jetting: destinations seen in series and films

Set-Jetting is the trend of traveling to destinations seen in series, films, and streaming productions. The phenomenon grew strongly after the post-pandemic boom of Netflix, HBO, and Disney+.

Production

Destination

Search increase

Squid Game

South Korea

+228% after season 2

Game of Thrones

Croatia (Dubrovnik)

+187% during airing

The White Lotus

Sicily

+312% after season 2

Emily in Paris

Paris (specific locations)

+143% during airing

4.4 eSports and Power of Play

92% of industry executives agree that “play” destinations will be crucial to the tourism of the next decade. eSports are a central part of this phenomenon: the global market moves US$ 4.3 billion in 2026 and stadiums dedicated to competitions have become tourist destinations.

Marketing Insights · Macro 04: From the commercial calendar to the cultural calendar

Most of the trade still plans campaigns by the commercial calendar: Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Black Friday. But entertainment tourism moves by the cultural calendar: concerts, festivals, sporting events, film and series releases. The search peaks are already mapped on Google Trends. Whoever anticipates, wins.

Four practical actions:

Indexed cultural calendar: map the 50 to 100 events of the year that affect your destination. Each event generates 2 to 6 weeks of search peaks. Anticipate and start the campaign 4 weeks earlier.
“Fan first” packages: packages that include the ticket or access to the event as the protagonist, with accommodation as support.
Co-marketing with concert venues and arenas: formal partnerships generate credibility that a solo campaign cannot reach.
Content production during the event: an on-site capture team creates direct traffic for post-event bookings from those who missed the current edition.

Sources: Skift Research 2026; HBX Group; Google Trends; Eventbrite Live Events Report 2026.

Macro-Trend 05: Family, Generations and Silver

The collective traveler is reorganizing the industry. It is no longer the nuclear family, it is the extended, multi-generational family, with grandparents, grandchildren, cousins, and close friends. And the 60+ audience is the most underestimated segment with the highest margin in tourism: US$ 2.62 trillion by 2030.

Global population aging is the backdrop of this macro-trend. In 2026, for the first time in history, the number of people over 60 exceeds the number of children under 5 on the planet. Countries like Japan, Italy, South Korea, and Germany already have a third of their population in the 60+ bracket. Brazil reaches 25% by 2030. This contingent has three characteristics that make it the most valuable segment in tourism: it has accumulated income, it has free time, and it has the willingness to travel. And yet, the Brazilian trade keeps communicating as if this audience were “complementary”.

The other side of the coin is the resurgence of the extended family as a unit of tourism consumption. After decades in which the “nuclear family” (father, mother, two children) dominated marketing, in 2026 the family that travels together involves three or four generations: grandparents, parents, children, cousins. This completely changes the product: connecting rooms, adapted dining options, intergenerational activities, price tiers sensitive to group size. Resorts and operators that understand this first capture a high-margin, high-ticket segment.

5.1 Multigenerational: trips with 3 or 4 generations

Trips that bring together 3 or 4 generations at once grew 34% in 2025 in the US (AARP Travel Research 2025). In Brazil, the picture is similar: “extended family” packages with grandparents, parents, and grandchildren have become a formalized product in operators.

What changes in operations: connecting or connected rooms, differentiated programming by age group on the same day, adapted dining options, and intergenerational activities (workshops that grandparents and grandchildren do together).

5.2 Inheritourism + Skip-Gen

Inheritourism describes the phenomenon of children and grandchildren traveling to destinations that their parents or grandparents visited, retracing family journeys. Skip-Gen Trips are trips of grandparents with grandchildren without the parents. The two phenomena grow in parallel.

22% of travelers 60+ take Skip-Gen Trips (trips of grandparents with grandchildren, without parents) (AARP 2025)
Hotel Hop (changing hotels every 2-3 days within the same destination) is growing as a multigenerational practice
Operators like Trafalgar, Tauck, and Globus lead Skip-Gen packages

5.3 Silver Tourism (60+): US$ 2.62 trillion by 2030

The 60+ Tourism market is projected at US$ 2.62 trillion by 2030, according to Grand View Research, growing 7.3% per year. That is larger than France’s GDP. The 60+ audience has characteristics that make it the most valuable segment in tourism:

Spends on average 20% more per trip than other segments (AARP 2025)
Prefers the low season (solving the off-peak occupancy problem)
Has a high loyalty rate when well served
Travels more frequently (an average of 4.2 trips/year vs. 2.1 for the general average)

Marketing Insights · Macro 05: Ban “third age” and “golden age” from the vocabulary

The 60+ audience is the most underestimated segment and the one with the highest margin in tourism. But the Brazilian trade’s communication keeps using condescending language. “Third age” and “golden age” need to go. The 60+ audience does not want a discount, it wants respect and an adapted product.

Four practical actions:

60+ vocabulary: use vitality, longevity, discovery, earned time, second journey. AARP and the WHO have used this terminology for five years.
Diverse visuals: photos of active 60+ guests, on trails, dancing, in workshops. Ban stock images with young models pretending to be 65.
Reverse seasonality: Wednesday-to-Sunday packages and low season with premium curation. Solves off-peak occupancy and retains high-LTV guests.
A niche within the niche: accommodation for 60+ couples, retreats for 60+ women, 60+ solo travel, multigenerational trips. Communicate for whom, with whom, and why.

Sources: Grand View Research; AARP Travel Research 2025; Oxford Economics; WHO; Mintel Silver Economy Report 2026.

Macro-Trend 06: AI in the traveler’s journey

Generative AI became the starting point of travel research in 2026. According to Amadeus 2026, 60% of Gen Z and Millennials use ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, or Claude to plan travel. And the Brazilian trade is practically absent from these answers.

To grasp the magnitude of this change, a historical comparison helps. When Google consolidated as the gateway to the internet, in the early 2000s, hotels and operators that took five years to get basic SEO lost traffic for a decade. This is the same pattern happening now with generative AIs, at a faster scale. ChatGPT launched in November 2022. In three years it became a mainstream travel-planning tool. Whoever is not indexed in these answers in 2026 and 2027 will spend the entire decade trying to recover visibility.

But AI is not just about being in the answers. It is reorganizing the trade’s internal operations: dynamic revenue management, 24/7 multilingual service, personalization at scale, real-time translation, review analysis in seconds. The hotel that adopts these tools operates with productivity two to four times higher, with a proportional margin. The hotel that does not adopt them falls behind.

6.1 Travel Mixology: the new research journey

Amadeus called it Travel Mixology: the new research pattern where the traveler consults AI, social media, blogs, human agents, and booking sites in parallel. It is not a linear journey, it is a kaleidoscope of validations.

On average, the 2026 traveler consults 7 to 12 different sources before closing a booking (Amadeus Travel Trends 2026). The most relevant ones:

Generative AI (ChatGPT, Perplexity)
Instagram and TikTok (search by destination + creator filter)
Google (validation of specific information)
Official destination sites
OTAs (Booking, Expedia)
Direct recommendation from friends (WhatsApp)
Reviews (TripAdvisor, Google Maps)

6.2 AI in the trade’s internal operations

Generative AI is transforming the internal operations of tourism companies:

Trip.com’s TripGenie grew 234% in conversations in 2025. The most-used function? Real-time translation.
78% of hotels with chatbots report a 40-60% reduction in demand on the service team (Skift Research)
Booking Pulse, Expedia Rev+, Cendyn use AI for dynamic revenue management, optimizing prices by channel

40% of Gen Z uses TikTok as a search engine, not Google (Google internal data, leaked in 2024). To discover destinations, compare hotels, and see “what to expect” from a trip, short-video social media beat traditional search for this age group.

6.4 Anti-algorithm: the search for human curation

As a counterpart to the excess of AI, the importance of professional curation that translates trends into viable experiences is growing. The agent who understands and filters the hype is more valuable than ever. Boutique operators and specialized consultants grow double digits in 2026.

Marketing Insights · Macro 06: LLMO is the hottest discipline of 2026

LLMO (Large Language Model Optimization), also called GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) or AEO (Answer Engine Optimization), is the hottest discipline in digital marketing in 2026. The Brazilian tourism trade is practically absent from it. Ask Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Gemini: “which is the best inn in (your destination) for a couple without kids”. If your brand does not show up, you are invisible to the 60% of Gen Z and Millennials who use generative AI to plan travel.

Four practical actions:

LLMO audit: today, ask 20 questions in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude about your destination and segment. Note which brands appear, in what order, with what descriptions. That is your point zero.
Schema.org and data structure: AI models prefer structured content. Implement Schema.org for Hotel, LocalBusiness, FAQPage, BreadcrumbList. Use FAQs on the site (AI models literally extract answers from structured FAQs).
“Primary source” content: generative AI cites sources it considers authoritative. Publish your own reports, occupancy data, surveys with your guests. Being cited is worth more than being advertised.
Solve friction with AI, do not sell: implement a chatbot that resolves 80% of the guest’s questions (language, currency conversion, map, schedule) and frees up your team.

Sources: Amadeus Travel Trends 2026; KPMG AI Report; Gartner Marketing Predictions 2026; Schema.org; Google Search Quality Guidelines 2026.

Macro-Trend 07: ESG, sustainability and inclusion

ESG left the institutional narrative and became a practical purchase criterion. In 2026, what converts is a real first-person testimonial, a visible certification, and a quantified figure. Inclusion left the discourse and became a market multiplier.

Over the past five years, ESG in tourism went through three phases. The first (up to 2020) was blatant “greenwashing”: hotels put up a little “reuse your towel” sign and claimed to be doing sustainability. The second (2020-2024) was dense institutional reports: companies published 200-page ESG reports that no one read. The third, consolidating in 2026, is one of specific data, real testimonials, and verifiable certification. The traveler does not want to read a report, they want to see a number and hear a real customer.

Inclusion follows a parallel path. It left the territory of “well-intentioned discourse” and became a practical criterion. People with disabilities travel with 1 to 3 companions on average. Atypical families have specific needs. The LGBTQIA+ audience evaluates a destination by explicit signs of safety and welcome. These are not “sensitive audiences”, they are market multipliers. Whoever communicates inclusion well captures segments that the conventional trade has ignored for decades.

7.1 Pragmatic sustainability: data instead of narrative

Instead of “we are sustainable”, the 2026 traveler wants to see a number. Hotels that publish “we reduced water consumption by 38% in 3 years” or “100% of our energy comes from our own solar panels” convert more than campaigns with nature photos.

71% of global travelers want to travel more sustainably in 2026 (Booking.com Sustainable Travel Report 2026)
43% would pay more for accommodation with verifiable certification
GSTC, Rainforest Alliance, B Corp are the certifications that most influence the purchase decision

7.2 Coolcationing: climate change rewrites seasonality

Climate change is rewriting the seasonality of tourism. Traditionally packed European summers (Italy, Spain, Greece) recorded a drop of 8 to 12% in July-August bookings in 2025, while cool-climate destinations (Scandinavia, Iceland, southern Argentina) grew double digits.

Searches for “Iceland summer 2026” rose 89% (Trip.com)
Argentine and Chilean Patagonia record growth of 34% in January-February bookings
Southern Brazil (Serra Gaúcha, Serra Catarinense) emerges as a tropical Coolcationing destination for travelers from the North and Northeast

7.3 Regenerative tourism: beyond neutrality, regeneration

It is not enough to minimize impact. It has to improve the place. Regenerative tourism is the frontier of emerging luxury, according to HBX Group 2026 and Mintel Global Predictions. Hotels and operators start to be evaluated by the positive impact generated in local communities.

7.4 Inclusive Tourism: US$ 262 billion in the US

The inclusive tourism market is projected at US$ 262 billion in the US alone. It includes travelers with physical, sensory, and cognitive disabilities, autism, and their families. Globally, there are more than 1 billion people with some type of special need (WHO).

Autistic travelers in the US alone: 32 million
People with disabilities travel with 1 to 3 companions on average
Accessibility is not charity, it is a market multiplier

7.5 Accessibility as a tourism product

People with disabilities generally travel with 1 to 3 companions. Accessibility is not charity, it is a market multiplier. Visit Mesa (Arizona) became a global case by becoming the first Autism Certified city by IBCCES, recording growth of 38% in multigenerational visitation.

Marketing Insights · Macro 07: Green and inclusive communication in the first person

ESG and inclusion stopped being institutional narrative. In 2026, what converts is a real, first-person testimonial, on video. Guests with disabilities showing how the stay went. Atypical families reporting inclusion. 60+ travelers explaining how the destination accommodated their needs. Do not use a model, use a real customer.

Four practical actions:

Structured testimonial videos: capture 30 to 60 seconds of a real customer answering: “what did you fear before coming?” and “what actually happened?”.
Visible certifications: the IBCCES, GSTC, Rainforest Alliance, B Corp seal. Do not hide them in the footer.
Accessibility map: a dedicated page with real photos (not renderings) of the ramp, the adapted bathroom, the door measurements.
Quantified environmental footprint: instead of “we are sustainable”, publish specific numbers.

Sources: Booking.com Sustainable Travel Report 2026; IBCCES; GSTC; Mintel Inclusive Travel; Visit Mesa case study.

Macro-Trend 08: New mobility and pets

How the 2026 traveler gets to places has changed. Direct flights without hubs (Point-to-Point Precision), road trips, and the Pawprint Economy reorganize travel planning. And the pet became part of the product, not a detail.

Three technological and economic forces converge in this macro-trend. The first is aviation: long-range narrow-body aircraft (A321XLR, 737 MAX) made direct routes between mid-size cities that previously only connected via a hub economically viable. The second is the post-pandemic: the road trip gained prestige during the pandemic (it was the only “safe” way to travel) and kept its relevance afterward, especially in the US and Europe. The third is the humanization of the pet: in twenty years, the dog left the backyard, went to the living room, then to the bedroom, and now to the plane.

For Brazil, the first force is the most relevant. Embratur, via PATI, financed 47 new international routes in 2025. Each new direct route opens a window of 90 to 180 days in which the local trade has a competitive advantage over competing destinations. Whoever uses this window with aggressive geo-targeting in the source city captures share quickly. Whoever misses the window loses out for years.

8.1 Direct flights without hubs (Point-to-Point Precision)

Long-range narrow-body aircraft (Airbus A321XLR, Boeing 737 MAX) open direct routes between mid-size cities. Hubs lose weight. Secondary cities gain connectivity.

Embratur PATI (International Tourism Support Program) financed 47 new international routes to Brazil in 2025
Florianópolis got a direct flight from Buenos Aires in 2025, with a 73% increase in Argentine arrivals
Recife, Salvador, Belém gain direct routes from Lisbon, Madrid, and Frankfurt

8.2 Road Trips: freedom, control, predictability

71% of Americans plan to travel by car in 2026 (AAA Road Trip Report 2026). Freedom, control, predictability. Inns on routes gain new relevance. In Brazil, the Estrada Real, Caminho dos Cânions, and Rota do Vinho in Serra Gaúcha emerge as established editorial products.

8.3 Pawprint Economy: US$ 500 billion by 2030

The pet travel market is projected by Bloomberg at US$ 500 billion by 2030. 56% of the global population has a pet. 47% of owners would take their first trip with the animal in 2026.

Brazil has 160 million pets, one of the largest pet markets in the world
Pet-friendly hotels charge on average 15% more and have a 12% higher occupancy rate
A brand that stays silent about pets loses 47% of the emerging market (Bloomberg)

Marketing Insights · Macro 08: Geo-targeting of source cities and editorial route products

New mobility changes the paid-media game. When a Brazilian city gets a direct international flight through PATI (Embratur), the local trade has a window of 90 to 180 days to capture the source city’s audience. When Florianópolis gets a flight from Buenos Aires, your inn in Florianópolis needs to be in the feeds of Buenos Aires.

Four practical actions:

Aggressive geo-targeting: Meta Ads and Google Ads campaigns geo-targeted in the source cities of the new flights. Full funnel from the source city.
Routes as an editorial product: Estrada Real, Caminho dos Cânions, Rota do Vinho. Each route is an editorial product: blog, podcast, PDF guide, SEO content in PT/EN/ES.
Explicit and visual pet-friendly: seal on the site, photo of the pet in the room, pet welcome kit, dog menu. The pet cannot be a detail buried in the FAQ.
Marketing for international road trippers: bilingual content that simultaneously serves Brazilians and foreigners multiplies the audience.

Sources: Embratur PATI 2026; Bloomberg Pet Travel Report; IATA; AAA Road Trip Report; Tourism Brazil.

Macro-Trend 09: The new consumer

The 2026 consumer is a new figure. More sober, more conscious of time, more price-sensitive, more resistant to ostentatious consumption. Time is luxury, sobriety is status, value is narrative.

This “new consumer” is the result of the convergence of four phenomena that, individually, would already be relevant, but together are reorganizing entire sectors. First, the popularization of GLP-1 medications (Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro), which in three years went from “diabetes medicine” to a “lifestyle product” used by tens of millions of people globally, significantly reducing caloric and alcohol consumption. Second, the drop in alcohol consumption especially among Gen Z, with phenomena like “Dry January”, “sober curious”, and premium mocktails. Third, digital detox as a countermovement to digital hyper-saturation. Fourth, the global economic slowdown that recalibrated ostentatious consumption.

For the trade, this means rethinking a lot. All-inclusive resorts base much of their margin on beverage consumption and excessive buffets, precisely what this consumer no longer wants. “Fitness” and “diet” menus communicate stigma; this consumer wants a healthy option without an exception label. Long packages may lose out to shorter packages with denser curation. Everything is in motion.

9.1 Time is luxury: 3 days with no agenda are worth more than a full 7-day package

The luxury of 2026 is not accumulation, it is earned time. Research from Bain & Company shows that 67% of high-income consumers prefer experiences of structured free time to accumulating events.

9.2 Ozempic Economy: the impact of GLP-1s on the tourism product

Those who use medications like Ozempic and Wegovy eat less, drink less, prioritize experience over food. Hospitality and gastronomy reorganize. A study by the Cornell Journal of Marketing Research 2025 shows that GLP-1 users reduced caloric consumption by 30-40% without reducing total travel spending.

9.3 Sobriety generation: 64% of Brazilians did not consume alcohol in 2024

64% of Brazilian adults did not consume alcohol in 2024 (CISA Brasil). Globally, Gen Z is drinking less than any previous generation. “Sober curious”, “sober travel”, and premium mocktails gain ground.

-23% Gen Z drinks vs Millennials at the same age (Mintel)
+34% global growth of mocktails in hotels (Mintel)
All-inclusive resorts need to rethink the margin calculation. Without alcohol in consumption, the gastronomic offer and beverage curation gain disproportionate weight

9.4 Cost vs. Benefit: psychological inflation and closed pricing

The consumer feels that everything is more expensive, even when real inflation falls. They justify the price with a narrative of concrete value. All-inclusive packages with a closed price gain emotional appeal in 2026 (Mintel Global Consumer Predictions 2026).

9.5 Circular economy in tourism: renting over owning

Belonging without owning. Renting equipment, clothing, luggage, toys. The traveler wants experience, not baggage. Mintel and Braztoa point to double-digit growth in travel-equipment rental services.

Marketing Insights · Macro 09: Menus and offers adapted to the new sober and GLP-1 consumer

The new consumer is reorganizing consumption silently. Those who use GLP-1 medications (Ozempic, Wegovy) eat 30 to 40% less. Those on a digital detox want 3 days with no agenda. Each niche generates a buyer persona with high lifetime value and is still poorly served by the trade.

Four practical actions:

Adapted menus without stigma: low-cal options, premium mocktails, smaller portions at a fair price, without a “fitness” or “diet” label that reads like an excuse.
Lifestyle content by niche: sober travel, time-luxury (3 days with no agenda), GLP-1 friendly stays, slow travel. Each niche generates a buyer persona with high lifetime value.
Closed pricing without surprises: all-inclusive packages with a closed price gain emotional appeal. The traveler wants predictability.
Communicate time, not things: “Breakfast served until 11am”, “Flexible check-out until 4pm”, “Concierge solves it instead of you searching”.

Sources: CISA Brasil 2025; Cornell Journal of Marketing Research 2025; Mintel Global Predictions 2026; McKinsey GLP-1 Impact Report 2026.

Macro-Trend 10: Brazil, destination of the year

Brazil has unprecedented international visibility in 2026. Travel + Leisure named it destination of the year. The NYT included Inhotim on its list of 52 places to visit. Embratur closed 2025 with 38% growth in international arrivals. But the window does not stay open forever.

Brazil has been destination of the year before. It was on the cover of a European Vogue in the 60s, it was a New York Times feature in the 80s, it was a Hollywood theme with Black Orpheus and more recently City of God. Every twenty or thirty years, the country returns to the global radar as a “destination that reinvents itself”. But in previous cycles, the Brazilian trade missed the opportunity. It lacked air infrastructure, it lacked institutional stability, it lacked coordinated communication, it lacked an organized offer for the international tourist. The window opened, stayed open for five years, and closed with the trade still getting ready.

The 2026 cycle is different for a few structural reasons. First, air infrastructure has improved substantially, with 47 new international routes in 2025 and more planned for 2026 and 2027. Second, the Estratégia BRASIS coordinates trade, government, and the private sector with a long-term horizon (through 2030). Third, social media and generative AI amplify visibility in a way that traditional campaigns could not. Fourth, Brazilcore as a global cultural phenomenon is on the rise and gains spontaneous amplification in international media. The window is open and the structure to take advantage of it is too. What is missing is for the local trade to do its part.

10.1 International Records: unprecedented growth

Within the projections, international tourism is exciting. From 6.77 million international tourists in 2024 to 9.3 million in 2025. An all-time record for the arrival of international tourists. The Estratégia BRASIS sets the target at 16.2 million by 2030. Brazilian tourism GDP projected at US$ 234.8 billion in 2026 (WTTC).

Argentines led international arrivals to Brazil in 2025
+108% in Porto Alegre and +71% in Fernando de Noronha (IATA 2025)
Brazilian air capacity will set a new benchmark with 47 new international routes

10.2 Brazilcore: Brazilian aesthetics became a global cultural trend

Tropical colors, artisanal jewelry, high-cut bikinis, açaí, samba, and bossa nova enter international fashion. The “Brazilian summer” became a reference for laid-back luxury. Vogue, Elle, and WSJ highlight features on “how to dress Brazilian summer”. Café 0_____, Sunset Cidade Jardim, Skef, and Brazilian beachwear became a reference.

Brazilcore is neither hillbilly nor cliché. It is contemporary, elegant, vibrant. The Brazilian trade can capitalize on it and package tourism products with a coherent aesthetic. Several international publications point out that Brazil is on the rise.

10.3 Estratégia BRASIS: the coordinated federal plan

For the first time in decades, Brazilian tourism has a federal plan with a long-term horizon coordinated among the sector’s main bodies. PATI, infrastructure, international marketing, trade training. Embratur, MTur, the Ministry of Ports and Airports, and the private sector aligned.

Marketing Insights · Macro 10: Brazil’s window requires translation, curation, and coordination

Brazil has unprecedented international visibility in 2026. But the window does not stay open forever. The trade that professionalizes now retains the tourist who is arriving.

Four practical actions:

A multilingual site as the baseline, not a differentiator: a bilingual PT/EN site is the minimum, not a differentiator. Spanish is also essential given that Argentines lead arrivals.
Brazilcore as visual language: tropical colors, contemporary regional gastronomy (not hillbilly), live music, biojewelry, original Brazilian design. Package it as an editorial product.
SEO and LLMO in English: terms like “where to go in Brazil 2026”, “is Brazil safe”, “best beaches in Brazil that aren’t Rio”, “Brazil travel itinerary 10 days”. Optimized English content is the cheapest and most underexploited lever of 2026.
Coordination between trade + Embratur + creators: invite 20 to 50 creators from target markets (US, UK, Argentina, Germany, France, Portugal) to experience the product and produce native, not translated, content.

Sources: Embratur PATI 2026; Travel + Leisure; New York Times Travel; WSJ; Vogue Brazil; Skift Research.

How to apply Brazil’s window in your business this week

To close Macro 10 with a practical translation, I have separated five immediate steps you can start on in the next seven days, regardless of the size of the business:

International presence audit: today, do a search on Google and in three AIs (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini) using English terms like “where to stay in (your city) Brazil”, “best hotels in (your region) Brazil 2026”, and “(your city) Brazil safe to visit”. Note whether your brand appears, in what order, with what description. If it does not appear, that is the point zero of the work.
Full site version in English and Spanish: not automatic translation. A full version, with international vocabulary and schema.org configured per language. Argentines lead arrivals, Americans come second among long-haul internationals, so PT/EN/ES is the minimum.
A dedicated page for “(your city) Brazil 2026”: SEO/LLMO-optimized content in English with real questions from the international traveler (“Is it safe?”, “How to get around?”, “Best time to visit?”, “How much to budget?”). Structured FAQ with schema.org. This content captures direct search and feeds generative AIs.
A formal invitation to 5 international creators: identify 5 travel creators in target markets (US, UK, Argentina, Germany, France, Portugal) with 20k to 200k followers, aligned with the destination’s emotional signature. A formal invitation with accommodation, transfer, a curated program, and a clear content brief.
Submission to international lists: send your property or destination to the editorial processes of Travel + Leisure, Condé Nast Traveler, Wallpaper, Time Out, Lonely Planet. Each of these publications has an open submission process. Most of the Brazilian trade does not even know it exists.

Brazil’s window by region: where each opportunity is

“Brazil destination of the year” manifests differently in each region. It is worth understanding where each window is most open in order to allocate effort more precisely.

Southeast (RJ, SP, MG): the window is in premium air connectivity and cultural tourism. Inhotim on the New York Times list, Lollapalooza Brasil, F1 at Interlagos, the Art Biennial. The traveler arrives via hub airports (GRU, GIG, CNF) and spends on gastronomy, events, and culture. Trade focus: “fan first” packages for major events and international gastronomic curation.
South (RS, SC, PR): the window is in tropical Coolcationing and Argentine tourism. The direct Buenos Aires-Florianópolis flight increased Argentine arrivals by 73%. Serra Gaúcha and Serra Catarinense became premium destinations for the summer of those who want to escape extreme heat. Trade focus: a site in Spanish, partnerships with Argentine creators, packaging of “Brazilian winter” for tropical source markets.
Northeast (BA, PE, RN, CE, MA): the window is in wellness, natural beauty, and authentic Brazilcore. Trancoso became a premium international destination, Lençóis Maranhenses entered global lists, Fernando de Noronha breaks records. The international traveler goes with a high ticket and seeks exclusivity. Trade focus: Salvaged Stays accommodations (like Pestana Convento do Carmo), contemporary regional gastronomic curation, and wellness packages with international vocabulary.
North (AM, PA): the window is in nature tourism and gastronomy (Belém is the UNESCO capital of gastronomy). The Amazon remains the most sought-after tourism product for long-haul travelers interested in transformative experiences. Trade focus: regenerative accommodations, programs with riverside communities, and a narrative around Whycation and Connection (in Accor’s language).
Central-West (MT, MS, GO, DF): the window is in wellness (Caldas Novas, Chapada dos Veadeiros), ecotourism (Pantanal, Bonito), and premium rural tourism. The opportunity here is to reposition the current offer with international vocabulary, without renovation. Bonito has 47 certified attractions, the Pantanal has a wildlife signature that few destinations in the world deliver, Chapada dos Veadeiros has a narrative of personal transformation. Trade focus: SEO/LLMO in English for terms like “wildlife safari Brazil”, “ecotourism Pantanal”, “wellness retreat Brazil”.

Each region has its own window and its own calendar. You cannot expect Embratur to do everything. The local trade needs to do its part, and do it now.

The four markets that will define 2026

When you put Wellness, Silver, Pet, and Inclusive together, you realize that the largest slice of global tourism today belongs precisely to the audiences the trade still underestimates. The numbers show the real scale of these markets:

Market

Size by 2030

Annual growth

Source

Silver Tourism (60+)

US$ 2.62 trillion

+7.3% p.a.

Grand View Research

Wellness Tourism

US$ 2.1 trillion

+12.4% p.a.

Global Wellness Institute

Pet Travel (Pawprint Economy)

US$ 500 billion

+8.6% p.a.

Bloomberg

Inclusive Tourism (US)

US$ 262 billion

+9.2% p.a.

IBCCES · Visit Mesa

Simple sum: US$ 5.48 trillion in specific markets by 2030. That is more than the combined GDP of Germany and the United Kingdom. And all of them are considered niches by the conventional trade.

Brazil’s window will not stay open forever. 2026 and 2027 are the years to capture global attention. Whoever digitizes the product, professionalizes service, and trains teams now retains the tourist who is arriving. Whoever waits will sell a commodity when everyone else is already in the game.

Five structural predictions before 2030

From the 10 macro-trends and the 42 movements analyzed, five structural predictions emerge as the long-term direction of global and Brazilian tourism:

01. The death of the standard itinerary

Generic packages with 2 days in city A + 1 day in city B will lose relevance to experiences organized by emotional vibe. The traveler will choose by feeling and the operator will build the logistics. The standard itinerary becomes a very low-margin commodity.

02. AI amplifies the human agent, it does not replace them

AI assistants will do preliminary research and simulations. But the human agent will handle curation, cultural context, problem-solving, and relationships. Whoever combines the two multiplies productivity. Whoever ignores AI becomes obsolete. Whoever uses only AI loses their differentiator.

03. The generic hotel disappears

Hotels without a clear identity, without a narrative, without a focus on a specific “vibe” will suffer brutal margin pressure. Utility hospitality (bed + wi-fi + coffee) becomes a low-value commodity. Differentiation will be in the emotional curation, the positioning, and the clear target audience.

04. Conscious consumption will impact all-inclusive

The sobriety generation, the Ozempic economy, and digital detox will force resorts to rethink the economic equation of all-inclusive. Margins from the bar and buffet will shrink. Margins from wellness, premium gastronomy, and curated experiences will grow. A complete overhaul of the model, not a cosmetic tweak.

05. Brazil consolidates a position among the top 30 global destinations

If it keeps the current pace, Brazil goes from the current 9.3 million international tourists to the 16.2 million of the BRASIS target. That would place the country among the top 30 global destinations by volume. But volume is not everything. Brazil also needs to rise in the ranking of average spend per tourist, currently at US$ 1,080 (vs. US$ 1,300-1,500 for comparable destinations).

Practical roadmap: what to do in the next 90 days

This article covered a lot of ground. To close with practical clarity, I organized a 90-day roadmap divided into three 30-day sprints. It works for independent hospitality, an operator, an agency, a consultancy, a DMO, or a tourism board, with adaptations.

Sprint 1 (days 1 to 30): diagnosis and foundation

The first 30 days are about auditing and calibration. Resist the temptation to “start doing things” before knowing where you stand. The actions of this sprint are:

LLMO audit: today, ask 20 questions in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude about your destination and segment. Note in a spreadsheet which brands appear, in what order, with what descriptions. That is point zero. You need it to measure progress.
Site audit: test mobile, speed (Google PageSpeed Insights should stay above 80 on mobile), schema.org implemented for Hotel or LocalBusiness, structured FAQ, available languages, capture form, WhatsApp integration.
Emotional audit: open each page of your site and ask: “which emotion does this page sell?”. If the answer is “none” or “amenities”, schedule a rewrite.
Emotional signature mapping: gather the team and identify the main emotion your property or destination delivers best. Document it as the brand’s meta-emotion.
Hidden wellness inventory: list everything your property already offers that fits into wellness but is not being communicated that way.
Source map: identify 5 to 8 primary data points about your destination or segment that you can cite in communication. “Caldas Novas has the largest thermal resort in the world”, “Bonito has 47 certified attractions”, “Fernando de Noronha has limited daily visitation”. These data points become anchors for SEO and LLMO.

Sprint 2 (days 31 to 60): rewriting and structuring

The next 30 days are about rewriting. With the foundation calibrated in Sprint 1, now it is time to reorganize what you communicate:

Rewrite headlines: based on the emotional signature, rewrite at least 10 headlines from the site, the sales materials, and the paid campaigns. Replace mentions of destination and amenity with a mention of an emotional state.
Create 3 menus by emotion: group the current offer into three named menus (“Sleep Recovery Menu”, “Reconnection Menu”, “Discovery Menu”). You do not need to create a new product, just organize the existing one under names that sell.
Implement complete schema.org: Hotel or LocalBusiness, FAQPage, BreadcrumbList. Use the Schema.org Validator to check.
Publish 5 strategic FAQs: choose 5 questions your audience asks on Google and answer them on a dedicated page with schema.org. Generative AIs literally extract answers from structured FAQs.
Set up WhatsApp Business with AI: implement a chatbot that resolves the 20 most frequent questions (language, currency conversion, transfer, schedule, pet policy). Frees the team for high-relevance work.
Identify 3 niche creators: 10k to 100k followers, on a theme aligned with your emotional signature. Negotiate a stay in exchange for native content.

Sprint 3 (days 61 to 90): acceleration and measurement

The last 30 days are about acceleration with measurement. You have already reorganized product and communication. Now you amplify and measure:

Launch a geo-targeted campaign: if there is a new direct air route to your city, set up Meta Ads and Google Ads campaigns in the source city. Minimum viable investment: R$ 3,000 to R$ 10,000 in the first 30 days.
Publish your first case study: real data from a guest, with permission. Before/after, a concrete metric, a short testimonial. Post it on the site, on LinkedIn, on Instagram. That is your new standard for social proof.
Repeat the LLMO audit: run the same 20 questions in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude. Compare with the Sprint 1 baseline. Where does your brand appear now that it did not appear before?
Set up a metrics dashboard: organic traffic, conversion by package (especially the packages named by emotion from Sprint 2), CPA of the geo-targeted campaigns, qualitative NPS from the Transformation Economy after-sale.
Document learnings: write a short report (5 to 10 pages) about what worked and what did not in the 90 days. Use it as a basis for the next quarter. Share it with the team and with partners.
Plan the next 90 days: define the next three priorities based on the collected data. Do not try to do everything. Focus on three fronts beats dispersion across ten.

Priorities by type of operation

This roadmap adjusts by type of business. A practical summary:

Type of operation

Priority #1

Priority #2

Priority #3

Independent hospitality

Wellness repackaging

Schema.org + LLMO

Packages by emotion

Boutique inn

Emotional signature

Niche creators

Real case study

Operator

Indexed cultural calendar

Skip-Gen and Silver packages

Bilingual content PT/EN/ES

Travel agency

Curation by emotion

WhatsApp + AI

“Fan first” packages

DMO or Board

Coordination with trade + international creators

SEO/LLMO in English

Geo-targeting source cities

All-inclusive resort

Rethink margin (sober, GLP-1)

Multigenerational packages

Premium wellness

Rural accommodation

The host as protagonist

Explicit pet-friendly

Editorial route line

The roadmap is aspirational but feasible. In 90 days you can reorganize communication, product, and lead generation if there is discipline and priority. What you cannot do is keep communicating tourism like ten years ago and expect the result to change.

Frequently asked questions about 2026 tourism trends

The questions below cover the most frequent doubts about the 2026 tourism trends, with short answers and verifiable sources. Useful both for trade professionals and for search engines and AI models.

What are the main tourism trends for 2026?

The 10 macro-trends of 2026 tourism are: (1) The Age of Emotion, with travelers choosing emotion over destination; (2) Wellness 360°, with health as the engine of travel; (3) Experiences outweigh destinations, with the “how” outweighing the “where”; (4) Entertainment Tourism, with events and fandom as protagonists; (5) Family, Generations and Silver, with multi-generational trips and the 60+ boom; (6) AI in the traveler’s journey, with 60% of Gen Z using AI to plan travel; (7) ESG, sustainability and inclusion, with first-person testimonials converting more; (8) New mobility and pets, with direct flights and the Pawprint Economy; (9) The new consumer, more sober and conscious; and (10) Brazil, destination of the year, with 38% growth in international arrivals. These macro-trends unfold into 42 detailed trends with verifiable primary sources.

What is Whycation?

Whycation is the term coined by Hilton in a survey of 14,000 travelers across 13 countries (Hilton 2026 Trends Report, conducted by Ipsos). It means Purposeful Travel: trips motivated by the emotional why, not by the destination. The three main “whys” identified by the survey were to rest and recharge (56%), time in nature (37%), and mental health (36%). None of the three most-voted answers is a place; they are all emotional states.

The Vibe Menu (Menu of Emotions) is the concept created by Accor in a survey of 4,300 travelers across 9 countries (ALL Accor Experiential Travel Trends 2026, conducted by Dynata). It maps the 8 core emotions that are replacing the destination as the starting point of the traveler’s journey: Awe, Joy, Liberty, Connection, Nostalgia, Serenity, Surprise, and Prestige. 25% of travelers in 2026 want to search for a trip by mood, not by destination.

How big is the Silver Tourism (60+) market in 2026?

The 60+ Tourism (Silver Tourism) market is projected at US$ 2.62 trillion by 2030, according to Grand View Research, growing 7.3% per year. It is larger than France’s GDP and is still the most underestimated segment by the Brazilian trade. The 60+ audience spends on average 20% more per trip than other segments, prefers the low season, and has a high loyalty rate when well served (AARP Travel Research 2025).

What is Brazilcore and why does it matter in 2026?

Brazilcore is the contemporary Brazilian aesthetic that became a global cultural trend in 2025-2026. It involves tropical colors, contemporary regional gastronomy (not hillbilly or cliché), live music, biojewelry, and original Brazilian design. Vogue, Elle, Travel + Leisure, and the Wall Street Journal cover the topic. Brazil was named 2026 destination of the year by Travel + Leisure, and Inhotim was included on the New York Times’ list of 52 places to visit. Brazilcore is contemporary, elegant, vibrant. It is neither hillbilly nor cliché.

What is Embratur’s Estratégia BRASIS?

The Estratégia BRASIS is the coordinated long-term federal plan led by Embratur and MTur for Brazilian tourism. It sets the target of 16.2 million international tourists by 2030, with coordinated investments in PATI (International Tourism Support Program), infrastructure, international marketing, and trade training. It is the first time in decades that Brazilian tourism has a federal plan with a long-term horizon coordinated among the sector’s main bodies.

How much did international tourism in Brazil grow in 2025?

Brazil received 9.3 million international tourists in 2025, against 6.77 million in 2024. Growth of +38%, the largest on the planet for the period (Estratégia BRASIS / Embratur / MTur). Argentines led the arrivals, followed by Americans and Europeans. The national air sector also broke records: 103 million domestic passengers, +108% in Porto Alegre, and +71% in Fernando de Noronha (IATA 2025).

What are the main key markets for tourism in Brazil in 2026?

The four key markets add up to US$ 5.48 trillion by 2030: Silver Tourism (US$ 2.62 trillion), Wellness Tourism (US$ 2.1 trillion), Pet Travel or Pawprint Economy (US$ 500 billion), and Inclusive Tourism (US$ 262 billion in the US). That is more than the combined GDP of Germany and the United Kingdom. All of these markets are still considered “niches” by the conventional trade.

What is LLMO and why does it matter for tourism in 2026?

LLMO (Large Language Model Optimization), also called GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) or AEO (Answer Engine Optimization), is the discipline of optimization so that generative AI models (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude) recommend your brand when users ask questions about travel. According to Amadeus 2026, 60% of Gen Z and Millennials use generative AI to plan travel. If your brand does not appear in these answers, you are invisible to the largest emerging slice of the market.

How can the Brazilian tourism trade prepare for 2026?

The priorities for 2026 include: (1) professionalize digital communication (bilingual PT/EN/ES site, schema.org, LLMO), (2) repackage the offer with international vocabulary (wellness, longevity, transformation), (3) train teams in applied AI and personalization, (4) categorize the product by emotional state and specific niche, (5) integrate the cultural calendar into campaign planning. Brazil’s window in 2026-2027 is unique. Whoever moves now retains the tourist who is arriving. Whoever waits will sell a commodity.

What is Wellness Tourism and how big is the market?

Wellness Tourism is the segment that unites travel and the pursuit of physical and mental health. The market is projected at US$ 2.1 trillion by 2030, growing 12.4% per year (Global Wellness Institute, McKinsey & Company). It includes meditation retreats, soakcations (thermal immersion), longevity travel, sleep tourism, biohacking retreats, hospitality of silence (Hushpitality), and digital detox. According to the Revista Tendências MTur, it is the number-one trend in Brazilian tourism by recurrence across 33 publications analyzed.

What is Set-Jetting?

Set-Jetting is the trend of traveling to destinations seen in series, films, and streaming productions. It grew strongly after the post-pandemic boom of Netflix, HBO, and Disney+. Examples: a 228% increase in searches for South Korea after “Squid Game”, +312% in Sicily after “The White Lotus”, +187% in Croatia after “Game of Thrones”. Brazil has the opportunity to capitalize with locations of international and national productions that gain global circulation.

What is Hushpitality and why is it on the rise?

Hushpitality, or Hospitality of Silence, is the term coined by Hilton (2026) joining “hush” (silence) and “hospitality”. It describes hotels and destinations that offer experiences based on absolute silence, no ambient music, no screens, and a ban on noise. 54% of travelers would accept a work trip just for the pause it provides. Bhutan recorded +700% in bookings on Trip.com. Aman Bhutan, Six Senses, and Amangiri lead the segment.

What are Soakcations?

Soakcations, or thermal immersion, is the trend of trips focused on medicinal waters, thermalism, and natural spas. Searches for “thermal spa retreat” rose 312%, and “hot springs travel” rose 189% (Expedia Unpack ‘26). In Brazil, it connects directly with Caldas Novas (GO), one of the largest thermal resorts in the world, and Poços de Caldas (MG). Amadeus points to significant growth in air bookings for 2026 to these destinations.

What is the Pawprint Economy?

The Pawprint Economy is the pet-friendly tourism market, projected by Bloomberg at US$ 500 billion by 2030. 56% of the global population has a pet, and 47% of owners would take their first trip with the animal in 2026. Brazil has 160 million pets, one of the largest pet markets in the world. Pet-friendly hotels charge on average 15% more and have a 12% higher occupancy rate. A brand that stays silent about pets loses 47% of the emerging market.

How much is the Wellness Tourism market worth in 2026?

The global Wellness Tourism market is projected at US$ 2.1 trillion by 2030, according to the Global Wellness Institute, growing 12.4% per year. It is the fastest-growing tourism segment among the key markets. It includes sleep tourism, longevity travel, biohacking retreats, hospitality of silence (Hushpitality), thermal immersion (Soakcations), and digital detox. In Brazil, destinations with a natural wellness vocation (Caldas Novas, Bonito, Fernando de Noronha, Chapada dos Veadeiros) record significant growth in air bookings for 2026, according to Amadeus.

How can the trade use generative AI in tourism today?

The trade can apply generative AI on four immediate fronts: (1) service, with multilingual chatbots that resolve 80% of frequent questions (language, currency conversion, map, schedule), freeing the human team for high-relevance cases; (2) revenue management, with tools like Booking Pulse, Expedia Rev+, and Cendyn that optimize prices by channel; (3) real-time translation (the most-used function of Trip.com’s TripGenie, which grew 234% in conversations in 2025); and (4) LLMO/AEO, optimizing the site so that ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude recommend the brand when users ask questions about travel. According to Amadeus, 60% of Gen Z and Millennials already use generative AI to plan travel.

Which Brazilian destinations are growing the most in 2026?

The Brazilian destinations with the highest growth in demand in 2026 are, in order of relevance in the available data: Fernando de Noronha (PE) with +71% in air traffic, Porto Alegre (RS) with +108% in international air capacity, Caldas Novas (GO) and Bonito (MS) driven by the wellness trend, Inhotim (MG) included on the New York Times’ list of 52 places to visit, Chapada dos Veadeiros (GO) and Lençóis Maranhenses (MA) highlighted by Booking.com and Travel + Leisure, Trancoso (BA) and Florianópolis (SC) with new direct international flights. Sources: Embratur PATI 2026, IATA, Booking.com Travel Predictions 2026, Amadeus.

What to expect from Carnival 2026 for Brazilian tourism?

Carnival 2026 is expected to break records, in line with the 38% growth in international arrivals to Brazil in 2025. Rio de Janeiro and Salvador concentrate international flow, while regional carnivals like Olinda, Recife, Ouro Preto, Salvador, Florianópolis, and the Street Carnival of São Paulo gain relevance for premium domestic tourism. The trend is for “fan first” packages (with a box seat, accommodation, and transfer integrated) to replace standalone bookings. Sources: Embratur, Skift Research, Eventbrite Live Events Report 2026.

How to reposition an inn for the wellness segment?

Repositioning an inn for wellness starts with the repackaging of the existing offer, without necessarily requiring a structural renovation. Five practical steps: (1) inventory what the property already offers that fits into wellness but is not being communicated that way (organic coffee, trails, nighttime silence, natural pool, medicinal-plant garden, sauna); (2) group these amenities into named “menus” (Sleep Recovery, Digital Detox, Longevity Starter); (3) adopt international vocabulary (sleep tourism, longevity travel, biohacking, hushpitality, soakcation); (4) connect with niche wellness creators (10k to 100k followers) for native content; (5) publish the first real case study with measurable data (sleep quality, stress reduction, before/after photos with the guest’s permission). Source: Thiago Akira.

What is Coolcationing and how can Brazil take advantage of the trend?

Coolcationing is the trend of traveling to cool-climate destinations while traditionally touristy regions record extreme heat waves. Traditionally packed European summers (Italy, Spain, Greece) recorded a drop of 8 to 12% in July-August bookings in 2025, while cool-climate destinations (Scandinavia, Iceland, southern Argentina) grew double digits. Brazil can take advantage of the trend by positioning the South (Serra Gaúcha, Serra Catarinense, Campos do Jordão) as tropical Coolcationing for travelers from the North and Northeast in the summer, and as a premium winter destination for international travelers. Source: Trip.com Group, Mintel Global Predictions 2026.

What is the difference between SEO, LLMO, GEO, and AEO?

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the classic optimization for traditional search engines like Google and Bing, focused on keyword ranking on results pages. LLMO (Large Language Model Optimization) is the new discipline of 2024-2026 that optimizes content so that generative AI models (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude) recommend the brand when users ask questions. GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is synonymous with LLMO, with a specific focus on generative search engines like Perplexity AI, SearchGPT, and Google AI Overviews. AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) is the optimization for “answer engines” like voice assistants (Alexa, Google Assistant) and Google featured snippets. The three (LLMO, GEO, AEO) share best practices: content structured in FAQs, well-implemented schema.org, verifiable primary data, clear source citations, short paragraphs with a direct answer. In 2026, these combined disciplines are more important than classic SEO for capturing Gen Z and Millennials.

How to attract Argentine tourists to Brazil in 2026?

Argentines led international arrivals to Brazil in 2025, and the growth should continue in 2026 with new direct air routes (Buenos Aires-Florianópolis got a direct flight with a 73% increase in Argentine arrivals). The five practical actions to capture this audience: (1) a site with a full version in Spanish (not just automatic translation); (2) Meta Ads and Google Ads campaigns geo-targeted in Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Rosario, and Mendoza with creatives in Rioplatense Spanish; (3) service via WhatsApp in Spanish with Argentine business hours (one hour ahead of Brazil); (4) partnerships with Argentine travel creators (Bondi Hostels, Bichi Bonacic, El Argentino Viajero); (5) prices in Argentine pesos visible on the site, with an updated exchange rate. Sources: Embratur, IATA 2025, Tourism Brazil.

Is it worth investing in pet tourism in Brazil in 2026?

Yes, and the investment has a measurable return. Brazil has 160 million pets, one of the largest markets in the world, and 47% of Brazilian owners would consider traveling with the animal in 2026 (Bloomberg Pet Travel Report). Pet-friendly hotels and inns record, on average, 15% more per night and a 12% higher occupancy rate than establishments that do not explicitly communicate pet-friendly. The minimum actions to enter the segment include: a visible pet-friendly seal on the site’s home, a photo of the pet in the room setting, a pet welcome kit (bed, bowl, toy, blanket), a specific dog menu, an outdoor area for walks, a clear policy on the size and weight of the animals. A brand that stays silent about pets loses up to 47% of the emerging market. Source: Bloomberg, Mintel.

Sources and bibliography

This article consolidates 30+ primary sources published between 2024 and 2026 by internationally recognized institutions. Every cited figure has a traceable source.

Global surveys with travelers

Hilton 2026 Trends Report · Ipsos survey with 14,009 respondents across 13 countries
ALL Accor Experiential Travel Trends 2026 · Dynata survey with 4,300 travelers across 9 countries
Booking.com Travel Predictions 2026 · Global survey with travelers across 35+ markets
Expedia Group Unpack ‘26 · Survey with 24,000 respondents across 18 countries
Trip.com Group / Google “Why Travel?” · Joint analysis of global searches and bookings
HBX Group 2026 Travel Trends · Report specialized in B2B
Amadeus Travel Trends 2026 · Analysis of global booking data
Mintel Global Consumer Predictions 2026 · Behavioral analysis of the global consumer

Sector analyses and reports

Skift Research · Specialized sector analyses and reports
McKinsey & Company · Studies on wellness, longevity tourism, and GLP-1
UN Tourism Barometer · Official international tourism indicators
WTTC (World Travel & Tourism Council) · Economic impact data for tourism
Global Wellness Institute · Global wellness market
Grand View Research · Market projections · 60+ Tourism
Bloomberg · Pet travel market projection through 2030
Allied Market Research · Ecotourism market
Oxford Economics · Global Silver Economy projections
Bain & Company · Business of Fashion · Global luxury market
KPMG · Trust in generative AI
Gartner Marketing Predictions 2026 · Digital marketing and AI trends

Brazil

Embratur · Ministry of Tourism · Estratégia BRASIS · Federal strategy and official data for Brazil
Revista Tendências do Turismo 2026 · 7th edition · MTur + Embratur + Braztoa
Braztoa · Brazilian Association of Operators
CISA Brasil 2025 · Center for Information on Health and Alcohol
Poderdata · MTur/Nexus 2025 · Behavioral surveys for Brazil
IATA · Official air traffic data

Academic studies and concepts

Joseph Pine · The Transformation Economy 2026 · Update of the Experience Economy concept
Cornell Journal of Marketing Research 2025 · Study on the Ozempic Economy and GLP-1
American Psychological Association · Review of 71 studies on digital use
WHO (World Health Organization) · World population with disabilities
US Surgeon General · Loneliness as a public-health crisis

Platforms and creators

TikTok Trends Report 2026 · Long-form content consumption behavior
Meta Insights 2026 · Engagement patterns by video format
Pinterest Predicts 2026 · Search and discovery trends
Vrbo Annual Trends · Demand patterns in alternative accommodation
Eventbrite Live Events Report 2026 · Global live-events market

ESG and inclusion

Booking.com Sustainable Travel Report 2026 · ESG behavior of the traveler
GSTC (Global Sustainable Tourism Council) · Sustainable certification standards
IBCCES · Visit Mesa · Autism Friendly Certification · Inclusive tourism market

Other references

AARP Travel Research 2025 · Data on 50+ travel in the US
AAA Road Trip Report 2026 · Road trip market in the US
New York Times Travel · 52 Places to Visit · 2026
Travel + Leisure · Brazil named 2026 destination of the year
Vogue Brazil · Editorial coverage of Brazilcore
Hotels.com 2026 Hotels of the Year · Annual list of trending hotels
Statista · eSports and digital entertainment market
Schema.org · International standard for structured data

Conclusion: Brazil’s window is now

The 2026 tourism trends are not abstract predictions. They are movements already underway, with verifiable primary data, concrete examples, and a direct impact on the trade’s cash flow. Whoever understands the shift now will capture the biggest window of opportunity in Brazilian tourism in three decades. Whoever waits will compete for a commodity when everyone else has already made their move.

The 2026 traveler does not choose a destination. They choose an emotion. They do not buy a room night. They buy transformation. They do not search on Google. They ask ChatGPT. And this shift requires more than a cosmetic adjustment to the communication. It requires a reorganization of the product, the language, the team, and the digital strategy.

This article covered the 10 macro-trends and the 42 trends in a dense format, but the practical application requires going deeper. That is why I created two companion resources for you:

Interactive site “Tourism and Marketing Trends 2026” · Visual navigation through all the trends, with an interactive Menu of Emotions, comparative charts of the key markets, and a section dedicated to Brazil
Free ebook “Tourism and Marketing Trends 2026” · 116 pages, 10 macro-trends, 42 trends, 10 blocks of applicable Marketing Insights, and a full bibliography

If this content helped you, consider sharing it with 3 people in the trade who will thank you a lot. Together we take the professionalization of Brazilian tourism further. 2026 is the window. Let’s make the most of it.

Top Tourism Trends for 2026 – 2030: Analysis and outlook for the travel and tourism industry 2026 in Brazil

Table of contents

The tourism landscape in 2026: why this shift matters

Why these three shifts matter for anyone operating in tourism

Brazil’s specific landscape in 2026

Methodology: how this guide was built

Macro-Trend 01: The Age of Emotion

1.1 Purposeful Travel (Whycation): the number-one motivation names no destination

1.2 Vibe Menu (Menu of Emotions): 25% want to travel by mood, not by destination

1.3 The paradox of the 2026 consumer

1.4 Transformative Experiences: tourism as an agent of personal change

Marketing Insights · Macro 01: From the Experience Economy to the Transformation Economy

How to apply the Age of Emotion in your business this week

Macro-Trend 02: Wellness 360°

2.1 Health and Wellness Tourism: health as the engine of travel

2.2 Hospitality of silence (Hushpitality): 54% want a trip just for the pause

2.3 Thermal immersion (Soakcations): medicinal waters and thermalism

2.4 Brain Rot and digital detox

2.5 Fitness and Longevity in the tourism product

Marketing Insights · Macro 02: Repackage your current offer with international wellness vocabulary

Repositioning for Wellness: the Brazilian opportunity

How to apply Wellness 360° in your business this week

Macro-Trend 03: Experiences outweigh destinations

3.1 Farm Charm: authentic rural aesthetics on the rise

3.2 Readaways: books as the engine of travel

3.3 Salvaged Stays: restored historic heritage

3.4 Gastronomic tourism: gastronomy as the reason for the trip

3.5 Unfiltered Journeys: authenticity vs. digital aesthetics

Marketing Insights · Macro 03: An editorial line for the off-the-beaten-path

Macro-Trend 04: Entertainment Tourism

4.1 Fan Voyage: the 2026 World Cup as a watershed

4.2 Music and Stagecations: festivals as a destination

4.3 Set-Jetting: destinations seen in series and films

4.4 eSports and Power of Play

Marketing Insights · Macro 04: From the commercial calendar to the cultural calendar

Macro-Trend 05: Family, Generations and Silver

5.1 Multigenerational: trips with 3 or 4 generations

5.2 Inheritourism + Skip-Gen

5.3 Silver Tourism (60+): US$ 2.62 trillion by 2030

Marketing Insights · Macro 05: Ban “third age” and “golden age” from the vocabulary

Macro-Trend 06: AI in the traveler’s journey

6.1 Travel Mixology: the new research journey

6.2 AI in the trade’s internal operations

6.3 Social media and algorithm: TikTok as a search engine

6.4 Anti-algorithm: the search for human curation

Marketing Insights · Macro 06: LLMO is the hottest discipline of 2026

Macro-Trend 07: ESG, sustainability and inclusion

7.1 Pragmatic sustainability: data instead of narrative

7.2 Coolcationing: climate change rewrites seasonality

7.3 Regenerative tourism: beyond neutrality, regeneration

7.4 Inclusive Tourism: US$ 262 billion in the US

7.5 Accessibility as a tourism product

Marketing Insights · Macro 07: Green and inclusive communication in the first person

Macro-Trend 08: New mobility and pets

8.1 Direct flights without hubs (Point-to-Point Precision)

8.2 Road Trips: freedom, control, predictability

8.3 Pawprint Economy: US$ 500 billion by 2030

Marketing Insights · Macro 08: Geo-targeting of source cities and editorial route products

Macro-Trend 09: The new consumer

9.1 Time is luxury: 3 days with no agenda are worth more than a full 7-day package

9.2 Ozempic Economy: the impact of GLP-1s on the tourism product

9.3 Sobriety generation: 64% of Brazilians did not consume alcohol in 2024

9.4 Cost vs. Benefit: psychological inflation and closed pricing

9.5 Circular economy in tourism: renting over owning

Marketing Insights · Macro 09: Menus and offers adapted to the new sober and GLP-1 consumer

Macro-Trend 10: Brazil, destination of the year

10.1 International Records: unprecedented growth

10.2 Brazilcore: Brazilian aesthetics became a global cultural trend

10.3 Estratégia BRASIS: the coordinated federal plan

Marketing Insights · Macro 10: Brazil’s window requires translation, curation, and coordination

How to apply Brazil’s window in your business this week

Brazil’s window by region: where each opportunity is

The four markets that will define 2026

Five structural predictions before 2030

01. The death of the standard itinerary

02. AI amplifies the human agent, it does not replace them

03. The generic hotel disappears

04. Conscious consumption will impact all-inclusive

05. Brazil consolidates a position among the top 30 global destinations

Practical roadmap: what to do in the next 90 days