Anguilla Courts Brazil After a $21.7B Outbound Travel Year

By Grace Kim

Brazilian travelers spent $21.7 billion abroad in 2025, up 10.4% from 2024 and the highest level since 2014, according to central bank data cited in the Anguilla Tourist Board’s announcement. The announcement reported the figures in January 2026, but they cover international travel overall, not spending in Anguilla.

What does Brazil’s travel spending mean for Anguilla?

The board brought a sales and media mission to Rio de Janeiro from Oct. 30 through Nov. 3, immediately after Virtuoso On Tour Latin America ran Oct. 27-29. The stated aim was to convert Brazilian interest in Caribbean island travel into bookings while diversifying Anguilla’s international visitor base.

Chantelle Richardson, deputy director of tourism, led the team with support from EM Marketing & Communication, the board’s South American representative agency. Brazil trade relations representative Alfredo Pacheco and trade relations manager Julieta Peyrás also joined.

Richardson said: “Through continued collaboration and destination education, we are focused on converting this interest into sustained awareness and demand for the island.”

Brazil’s $21.7 billion shows the scale of the outbound opportunity, not Anguilla’s share of it. The announcement disclosed no Brazilian bookings or arrival target, while the board is targeting Brazil’s luxury market. Sellers therefore cannot yet measure added revenue, market share or distribution gains from the effort.

Takeaway: Brazil is a prospect for Anguilla, not yet a proven sales channel.

Which sellers stand to gain distribution?

The team conducted five trade meetings and agency visits with:

• New Time Boutique Travel Agency
• Orinter Tour & Travel
• Goya Travel
• RioTravel Turismo
• Travel Place

New Time’s CEO and managing partner, Marja Amina de Oliveira, appeared alongside Richardson and Pacheco during the Rio outreach. The discussions centered on Anguilla’s accommodations and experiences for clients seeking privacy, personalized service, romance and culinary discovery.

The board also worked with advisors to identify potential bookings. It reported no confirmed sales from those discussions, leaving the difference between interest and conversion unresolved.

For those five sellers, the mission creates a route to pitch Anguilla stays and experiences to luxury clients. The announcement disclosed no contract value, commission structure or preferred-supplier terms, leaving the economics of that distribution unclear.

Takeaway: Five agencies have heard the pitch, but only confirmed bookings would show that distribution works.

Can media outreach produce bookings?

Richardson also met Beatriz Waehneldt, a journalist with Mercado & Eventos, during the sales and media mission. Meetings with Mercado & Eventos, Veja Rio and Amabilices explored possible coverage of Anguilla’s beaches, culinary scene, luxury accommodations and hospitality.

The team presented story ideas intended to introduce Anguilla to Brazilian audiences. The announcement gave no publication commitments, audience figures or conversion data, treating coverage as possible rather than confirmed.

Follow-up plans include destination training for travel advisors, identifying opportunities to add Anguilla to client itineraries and maintaining contact with Brazilian media. For sellers, that sequence links editorial exposure with advisor education and repeat contact, but it remains a plan rather than a conversion result.

Takeaway: The media push may support demand, but it has not yet produced a measurable result.

What remains unmeasured?

The board’s larger goal is to translate trade and media relationships into visitor demand. That is a projection, not a measured result, and the announcement gives sellers no baseline Brazilian arrivals, bookings, revenue contribution, market share or future target.

The central bank data offers context for the market’s scale, but it does not isolate luxury travel or show what share Anguilla could win. The announcement included no filings, market sizing or Anguilla-specific spending data, making the commercial opportunity harder to model.

The next test is whether follow-up training and coverage lead to actual itineraries and bookings. Anguilla has identified five agencies for outreach and a luxury proposition; it still lacks evidence that those contacts produce measurable revenue.

Takeaway: The strategy is coherent, but conversion will determine whether Brazil becomes a meaningful market.