Sports mad Brazil is aiming to dominate the world’s tourist industry as hosts of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games.
The Brazilian Ministry of Tourism has set some tough targets for the sporting events to boost the economy, transform cities and boost the country’s image as a tourist destination.
Performance will be measured against goals in tourist numbers and increased international revenue, said tourism minister Luiz Barretto.
The targets are based on analysing tourism and spending at previous World Cups, Olympics and Paralympic Games.
Ambitious targets
Factors considered include accessibility by air and land, flight times and status as a tourist/event destination in the years before hosting the events.
The ambitious targets to be achieved by 2020 are:
- A 113% increase in international tourism, ending with 11.1 million visitors
- A 304% increase in foreign currency from tourist spending to US$17.6 billion
- Increase visitors by 500,000 in 2014, when the country hosts the World Cup, and by 15% in 2016 when the Olympic Games are staged in Rio de Janeiro
- Keep growing at a rate at least 1% higher than the growth rate for any other South American country
- Make Brazil the leading South American destination by grabbing a 27% share of all tourists to the continent
The action plan is a welcome move for property investors investing in Brazil.
The latest Global property Guide cites Sao Paulo as the fastest growing housing market not only in Brazil, but worldwide, in the period ending July 2012.
Thriving buy to let market
Prices surged 15.56% in the year, but the rate of growth also slowed to 2.38% in the quarter.
Most Brazilians buy property as a home rather than an investment, and many will be encouraged to do so by a recent 4% cut in the official interest rate from more than 12% down to 8%.
Many agents try to point international investors at resort properties – but often these developments are not supported by infrastructure and lose their appeal to tourists, and then some value.
Not all Brazilians can afford to buy a home, but still want to move to cities like Sao Paulo to work, which also means a thriving buy to let market.
