LatinNews Daily - 17 February 2026

*Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has praised the city of Rio de Janeiro as a “global reference” for Carnival celebrations and tourism, highlighting the “creativity of our people and the capacity that Brazil has to transform culture into development, employment, and income” in a post on social media. This comes after he made a recent trip from 13-15 February to three cities which are among the country’s biggest Carnival holiday destinations: Rio de Janeiro and the north-eastern cities of Salvador and Recife. On 13 February Brazil’s national tourism agency (Embratur) projected that international tourism would inject US$185.7m in the local economies of cities with Carnival events, which would mark a year-on-year increase of 9.6% compared to the economic boost provided by foreign tourists during Carnival last year. Embratur also highlighted that international flights to Brazil during the 2026 Carnival season were up 21% compared to last year.

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