For decades, Brazil’s global image has been built on a familiar set of landmarks: the beaches of Rio de Janeiro, the spectacle of Carnival, and the rhythm of samba. That picture is accurate, but it’s incomplete. The country’s interior holds the Amazon and the Pantanal, while states like Bahia carry deep Afro-Brazilian traditions, and the historic towns of Minas Gerais tell a different story of Brazilian history. Indigenous and quilombola communities add layers of cultural diversity that rarely make it into international travel brochures.
Much of that richness remains unknown to visitors from abroad. Digital communication is starting to change that, helping lesser-known destinations gain visibility. That’s one of the goals behind the Plano Brasis 2025–2027, an international tourism marketing plan developed by Embratur, the national agency for tourism promotion. The plan aims to strengthen the country’s presence in overseas markets while pushing travelers to look beyond the postcard sights.
Experiences That Go Beyond the Sights
Changing the marketing is only half the job. The other half is broadening what travelers can actually do once they land. The iconic attractions aren’t going anywhere, but a parallel set of experiences is emerging that focuses on nature, food, and daily life. Feel Brasil, an initiative by Embratur in partnership with Sebrae, brings together 101 experiences across 61 municipalities and all 27 states. These range from nature activities and cultural encounters to culinary tours and chances to engage directly with local communities.
The idea is to move past the checklist approach to travel.
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A journey can be about meeting people, sharing a meal, or understanding how a place actually works, rather than just photographing it.
Broadening the range of destinations isn’t just about visibility, though. It’s also about who gets a say in how tourism develops and who benefits from it. A recent study of community-based tourism looked at eight initiatives across the country. It found that these projects tend to create more specialized products and services, catering to specific forms of demand rather than following the model of mass tourism.
That distinction matters deeply when Indigenous and traditional communities are involved.
Research on participatory planning stresses the need for local people to have a real voice in decisions about tourism development, especially when cultural heritage is at stake. The principle is straightforward: tourism should be shaped not simply for a community, but with it. Visitors who engage this way aren’t just passing through. They meet people, hear stories, and get a sense of life that no photograph can fully capture.
Such encounters only have real value when communities are treated as active participants, not as a backdrop for the visitor experience. Who tells the story, who shapes the experience, and how the benefits are shared—these are the questions that determine whether tourism helps or harms. Tourism can create income and new opportunities, but it can also put pressure on cultural heritage and change how local spaces are used. Local people need a meaningful voice in deciding what they want to share and how they want to present it.
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The Challenge of Balancing Growth With Protection
The same logic applies to the country’s natural environment. The Amazon, the Pantanal, and other ecosystems hold real potential for nature-based tourism and ecotourism. Realizing that potential requires careful planning. Tourism needs to be developed in ways that protect ecosystems, manage visitor activity responsibly, and involve the communities that live in these areas. Research suggests that ecotourism can support both social inclusion and environmental protection when backed by participatory planning and effective management.
That approach shows up in public policy. The Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Amazon promotes nature-based tourism, activities involving Indigenous and traditional communities, and regenerative travel. The Amazon Fund supports projects that connect community-based sustainable tourism with the conservation of protected areas and local income generation.
Visitor numbers alone don’t tell the whole story of whether tourism is succeeding. The real measure is whether the sector can grow without putting unsustainable pressure on natural resources or the communities that depend on them. In regions like the Amazon and the Pantanal, finding a workable balance between visitor activity, local economic opportunities, and environmental protection is essential. Nature isn’t just the backdrop to the experience; it’s the foundation on which that experience rests.
Food offers another path into the country. A dish, a local ingredient, or a culinary tradition can reveal something about the history and everyday life of the place it comes from. Gastronomy is increasingly seen not just as part of the travel experience but as an expression of cultural heritage and a source of local development. The country is particularly rich in this respect. The Afro-Brazilian influences in Bahia, the cuisine of Minas Gerais, and the contemporary food scene of São Paulo each reflect different histories and ways of life. The National Gastronomic Tourism Programme, Gosto pelo Brasil, launched by the Ministry of Tourism in 2022, aims to promote gastronomy as a tourism asset while supporting local initiatives.
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The case for looking beyond the country’s better-known destinations grows stronger as international demand rises. In 2025, it recorded … international tourist arrivals, a record figure and 37.1% higher than in 2024. That growth brings new opportunities, but it also requires ensuring the benefits of tourism reach more places and support a wider range of local economies.
Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo will remain major gateways.
They are backed by their international profile and infrastructure. At the same time, there’s considerable scope for other parts of the country to gain visibility abroad, from the Amazon and the Nordeste to historic inland towns and culinary routes. This doesn’t mean turning every place into a tourism destination. Development has value when it respects the character of a place, creates meaningful opportunities for local communities, and can be sustained over time.
Brazil Beyond Rio isn’t about asking the country to reinvent itself. It’s about looking past the version of the nation the world already knows. Behind the familiar images lies a much larger and more diverse country, shaped by the people, stories, and traditions that give each place its own character. Perhaps that’s what the idea ultimately comes down to: not presenting a different Brazil, but inviting the world to discover more of the country that has been there all along.