Brazil Goes After Small Tourism Investor Overseas

Brazil’s Ministry of Tourism wants to attract not only large private economic groups to invest in the country’s tourism and hotel industry, but especially the small and medium investor segment. For such, the minister Luiz Barreto traveled to Japan for the Jata World Tourism Congress & Fair, the largest tourism industry fair in Asia.

In Japan, Barreto gave a presentation on the existing investment opportunities on tourism in Brazil, aiming to attract more investors.

“We cannot think of the large conglomerates alone. We are also interested in medium and small investors. Thus, we are showing them what can be done in Brazil.”

The director of Tourism Financing and Investment Promotion at the ministry, Hermano Gonçalves de Souza Carvalho represented the minister at the 2nd South American Hotel & Tourism Investment Conference (SAHIC), which was held earlier this month in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The first edition of the event was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in September last year.

According to the Brazilian government, the minister is going to show that the country has a strong economy, a solid democratic foundation, conditions for development and figures attesting to its leadership position in the region.

The Tourism Ministry underscores that the 2014 FIFA World Cup, to be held in Brazil, is another factor for attracting the investment that the private should make in the country. The goal is to attract new investment into the tourism industry and improve the quality of the funds that are already present, he said.

A delegation of the Ministry of Tourism also went to Portugal to attend the Lisbon Real Estate Fair (SIL), with the goal of presenting business opportunities in the Brazilian hotel industry. By the end of the year, said Carvalho, the ministry intends to visit the United Kingdom to promote Brazil and attract new investors there.

Carvalho met with Latin American investors who are interested in investing in particular regions of the country, such as a group from Peru that wishes to build a hotel-boutique in the state of Acre, he said. To him, the fact that the Brazilian economy is stable, despite the world crisis, makes it “a good choice for them.”

The director of the ministry said that the promotion of the 2nd South American Hotel & Tourism Industry Conference, in Brazil, is proof of the economic situation that the country is experiencing, and that tourism in Brazil is thriving. He underscored the fact that the large global hotel groups are present in the Brazilian territory.

Countries from all over the world participate in the event seeking business. In the first edition, 320 executives from 25 countries attended. “We are well structured to receive this type of demand.” Carvalho stated that hosting the conference will “raise our standards even further in the face of the international scenario.”

The president of the SAHIC, Arturo Garcia Rosa, claimed that the existing opportunities for international investors in Brazil are very large, because the country “has given clear signs of the strength of its economy against the uncertainties of the global market, showing clear signs of recovery and resumption of growth.”

According to Garcia Rosa, the hosting of the 2014 World Cup contributes to that. He is hoping for the 2016 Olympic Games to be held in the city Rio de Janeiro, because that would open up investment opportunities not only for Brazil, but to all Latin America.