Hoteliers set to tap into lucrative Brazilian market

Hoteliers are taking part in a trade mission to Brazil in an attempt to capture business from a country that is providing a growing number of travellers to the UK.

For the seven months up to July 2013, it is estimated that there was a 10% increase in visitors, year-on-year, from Brazil.

The South American country, which provided 260,000 visitors to the UK in 2012, is a lucrative market for the hospitality industry. Two-thirds of the travellers who were on holiday from Brazil last year spent a total of £135m.

However, taking all travel into account, Brazil is not the biggest BRIC spender. In 2012, total spend from Brazil was £227m, compared with £240m from Russia, £300m from China and £333m from India.

Organised by VisitBritain, the mission to Brazil involves 34 delegates from 28 companies who are visiting leading travel agents in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.

Keith Beecham, VisitBritain's director of overseas, said: "With eyes firmly set on Brazil over the next two years as they prepare to host both the FIFA World Cup and Olympic Games, we're actually finding that more Brazilians are visiting Britain than ever before.

"Brazilians are attracted by our retail offering and till-busting Brazilian shoppers have shown significant growth in terms of holiday visits and spend. Shopping tourists spend big and our mission aims to further strengthen these ties, giving influential British companies the opportunity to promote their products face to face."

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