The history of the Brazilian cruise shipping market

Cruise shipping in Brazil took off at the end of the 20th century and expanded every year during the early 2000s, when the Brazilian economy was booming on the back of newly discovered oil reserves and the Brazilian currency, the Real, was strong compared to the US dollar. It was trading at 1.6 to reais to the greenback whereas today it is just 5.25, giving Brazilians less purchasing power.

From 1996 the Brazilian cruise industry grew steadily from a base of about 200,000 passengers per annum before peaking during the 2011-12 season when 805,189 in 19 vessels took a cruise along the South American country’s 7500 km coastline, making it the third biggest cruise market in the world, behind only the Caribbean and the Mediterranean.

Back then cruise terminals, government bodies and cruise lines were aiming for one million passengers per year and extending the season from four months (December to end of March) to all year round (at least for a few vessels), adding vessels every year. Seven years of falling passenger numbers saw the 2016-17 season total just 358,024 passengers but an improving economy saw the 2017-18 season bounce back with 418,504 passengers and seven vessels, and 2019-20 was the third consecutive year of growth and did well to bag 469,000 passengers as COVID-19 started to loom on the horizon, but 2020-21 saw no ships and zero passengers due to the pandemic.