Brazil Property Investment News

Demand for holiday accommodation high in Brazil

The latest figures from the Brazilian Central Bank show that the country’s tourism revenue last year reached a record high, consistent with what many experts had predicted. Buy-to-let investors in Brazilian property will have noted a growth in the demand for holiday accommodation, and all indications are that 2008 will be another strong year for the industry.

In 2007, foreign tourism brought revenues of £2.47 billion into Brazil, which was a 14.76% increase on the previous year. According to the country’s minister for tourism, Marta Suplicy, tourism is now the fifth item on the export agenda for Brazil’s economy.

The rise in revenue indicates that foreign visitors are paying more during their stays in the country, and according to the president of the Brazilian institute for tourism, Embratur, Jeanine Pires, the data shows “when visitors now come to Brazil they stay longer and spend more than ever before.”

This shift in the tourism trend towards high-end clients has not been overlooked by the government. Marta Suplicy has said that the country is moving towards luxury tourism, which will drive up the country’s tourism revenue and as an industry is growing globally at over 10% a year, compared to the annual rate of tourism growth globally which is 6.2%. It was announced earlier this month that the luxury Great Brazil Express train will start operating in spring, which is hoped to bring in 2,100 foreign visitors a year, further supporting the luxury sector.

The growth in Brazil’s tourism industry is consistent with the overall strength of this country’s economy: Brazil was recently described as “leading the Latin American surge” by Will Landing, the senior manger of the Blackrock Latin American Investment Trust.