Tapping Brazil's growing tourism industry

SALVADOR, Brazil - This beautiful coastal city rewards visitors with a variety of intense experiences.

In a single day, you can stroll back in time along the cobblestone streets of the historic Pelourinho district and take in its blend of restored and decaying colonial architecture. You can grab a bite of such typical Bahian foods as acaraje, ground black-eyed peas deep fried in dende oil and served with dried shrimp. After a leisurely afternoon soaking up the sun at the beach, you can savor a folklore show exemplifying the distinctive African-tinged culture of Bahia, including the capoeira martial-arts dance brought to Brazil by Angolan slaves.

For tourism entrepreneurs, such as the executives of Invest Tur, a start-up company engaged in tourism-oriented real-estate development, Bahia holds tremendous untapped potential.

"Brazil has an incredible mixture of natural beauty, [pleasant] climate, a welcoming population and a vast number of different cultural attractions," said Carlos Novis Guimaraes, chairman of Invest Tur's board.

"From the Amazon to tropical forests to colonial history to beaches, it's a myriad of natural and very high-level attractions that have been vastly underdeveloped."

These attractions, combined with a very positive macroeconomic view of Brazil, encouraged Guimaraes and his partners to launch Invest Tur.

In addition, soccer-mad Brazil is gearing up to host the 2014 World Cup, which will accelerate tourist inflows and speed up investment in tourism and infrastructure.

Last July, Invest Tur raised about $500 million in an initial public offering. Its revenue comes from the development and sale of second homes, as well as from co-development and co-ownership of resorts.

Invest Tur buys land and then builds luxurious hotels and second homes. It has about 15 projects in its portfolio. Txai Resort Itacare in Bahia is currently the lone hotel the company has in operation; other projects are in various staged of development.

"We're moving very rapidly," Guimaraes said. "When competition comes, we'd be heavily invested."

In late January, Credit Suisse initiated coverage of Invest Tur with an outperform rating, describing it as "a unique play in the high-growth Brazilian tourism sector."

"Invest Tur is the only listed real-estate company to tap the barely explored potential for tourism second-home real estate in Brazil," wrote Credit Suisse analyst Marcelo Telles in a report. Read more about investing in Brazil.

The availability of land at attractive prices in key tourist destinations for second-home developments creates room for projects with high returns of between 30% and 35%, while returns are between 16% and 20% for the hotel segment, Telles said.

Invest Tur has announced agreements to co-develop projects with several international hotel groups, including Six Senses Resorts & Spas as well as Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

Invest Tur has projects in the states of Bahia, Ceara, Alagoas, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina and Sao Paulo. With six projects, Bahia is currently the most important state for the company.

"Here in Bahia, there is a very clear situation now that tourism is growing a lot, and many foreign companies, mainly from Portugal and Spain, are arriving and purchasing pieces of land by the sea, building resorts and condos," said Ingrid Weckerle, financial director of Barry Callebaut Brasil S.A., which produces semifinished cocoa products.

Weckerle has witnessed the rise of the tourism industry, as Bahia's cocoa production, which is crucial for her company's business, has been devastated by a disease called witches'-broom. Read more about Brazil's cocoa industry.

Tourism in Bahia is growing at about 5% to 8% a year and brings in about $1.1 billion in revenue for the state. The total number of visitors to Bahia rose from 3.6 million in 1997 to nearly 5 million in 2005, according to data from Bahia's Secretariat of Tourism. The top three source countries for foreign tourists are Portugal, Argentina and France.

"In the northeast, you'll find how aligned the government is around promoting tourism," Guimaraes said. For example, he said, "Bahia has already made more investments in infrastructure than some of the other states." Watch related video report.

In 2007, Bahia's public-sector tourism-related investments totaled about $200 million, much higher than the annual average over the previous 15 years. As for private investment, by 2017, Bahia should have received tourism-related investment of around $3.3 billion.

Invest Tur's clients include domestic travelers and a mixture of Latin Americans, Europeans and North Americans. Most Europeans don't need a visa to enter Brazil, while U.S. citizens are required to get a visa before they travel.

"The good news is I am not overly dependent on any one segment -- foreigners or locals," Guimarães said.

Brazil is "different from central America and the Caribbean, where you don't have a local population with demand for these services," he said. "Here you have a big population with growing incomes, and the ability and willingness to purchase second homes."

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/invest-tur-taps-brazils-growing/story.aspx?guid=%7B3B27D5A1-F47B-4FD7-959D-644BE8837E55%7D&dist=msr_3

Join the carnival

As the locals prepare to samba, British buyers are starting to make a real song and dance about Brazil’s sultry northeast

The world’s largest and longest street party will erupt this week into a bright flurry of feathers, booty-shaking music and white-toothed smiles. Amid the throngs of carnival-goers will be thousands of Britons dressed in little but flip-flops and the pink beginnings of a tan – many of whom will decide to carry on after the party and invest in a second home in Brazil.

Most potential buyers head to the northeast of the country, where, along more than 1,000 miles of coast from Salvador to Fortaleza, fishing hamlets are being swallowed up by gated resorts with private pools, golf courses and spas. In a reflection of the continent’s obsession with beautiful bodies, some of the developments even have plastic-surgery clinics and rehabilitation spas.

If you can put up with the flight (at least £400 and 8½ hours, often with one or two changes), then the attractions are obvious: long, pristine white-sand beaches, temperatures that reach 30C in January and February, low living costs and properties that are up to a third cheaper than their equivalents in southern Spain. Indeed, many of the developers andimobiliarias funding the building boom cut their teeth on the costas and have crossed the Atlantic in search of a stake in the country Goldman Sachs predicts will have the world’s fifth-largest economy by 2050.

Property prices have seen stratospheric growth, fuelled by an emerging Brazilian middle class, an international campaign to attract investors, and the 2014 World Cup, to be staged across the whole country. “Some locations have seen capital appreciation of more than 1,000% in five years,” says Felipe Cavalcante de Melo Lima, president of the Association for the Development of Tourism and Real Estate in the Brazilian Northeast. He predicts a more modest 12% increase for this year.

“It is like southern Spain 10 or 20 years ago,” agrees David Gordon, commercial director of Qualta Resorts, which is behind two of the largest upmarket resorts in the states of Pernambuco and Rio Grande do Norte. “Brazil is a fabulous alternative to Spain and is more affordable than the Caribbean. People are fed up with the classic Costa del Sol pitch, which has become one big ghetto of British people.”

There may not yet be a fully fledged expat community, but those Britons who have moved there are seeking each other out to share tips on living in a tropical climate. One couple already living their Brazilian dream are Chris Cakebread, 46, and his wife, Collette, 50.

Two years ago, they fell in love with a banana-coloured granja, a smallholding 30 minutes’ drive from Joao Pessoa, in the state of Paraiba, the most easterly part of the Americas.

The couple, who spend half the year in Worcestershire and half in Brazil, and intend to retire The region boasts a seductive mix of sun, sea and samba, as well as elegant old towns such as Salvador, above right there, paid £42,000 for the plantation-style bungalow, which had holes in the roof, no lavatory and only an outside oven. They spent £12,000, and it now has a new roof and a fitted kitchen.

“I watch the sun rise above the mango trees, then hop out of bed and lie by the pool,” Chris says. “I love being in my Brazilian bubble.” The couple regularly go for supper with Jeremy Baker, 68, and his wife, Gemma, 67, from Birkenhead, who have retired to a similar property 15 minutes’ drive away.

Other British neighbours include a policeman from Dover, a Hollywood stunt man and one who works as a volunteer bouncer at Tambaba, the world-famous naturist beach – all of them trying to make a new life in the country. So is it paradise? Almost.

“You can’t buy an electric kettle, so pack one in your suitcase,” Baker says. “And the best way to get rid of the cockroaches that live in the coconut palms is to pack sea salt in newspaper at the top of the trunk. When it rains, this coats the tree and stops the pests wandering indoors.”

Given that Brazil is a vast and diverse country – the northeast region alone is the same size as France, Germany, Italy and Britain combined – what and where should you buy? To help you choose between a granja in the interior, a villa on a golf course or a flat on the beach, here’s our guide to Brazil’s northeast coastal states. Remember, too, that English is not widely spoken, so, if you don’t speak Portuguese, you will need someone who knows both languages to guide you through the buying process – and help you to deal with everything from repairs and renovations to paying your electricity bill once you have acquired your home.

Bahia

Five years ago, the state capital, Salvador, was regarded by most tourists as a grimy, crime-ridden no-go area. Today, the old town is being restored: its peeling pastel facades are getting a face-lift, the Hilton chain is moving in and double-decker tour buses with adverts for village-style gated resorts travel the cobbled streets. Even a couple of years ago, it was possible to pick up a run-down property in the Pelourinho district, in the 18th-century centre, for less than £50,000, but derelict townhouses now start at £150,000 or more; count on spending the same again on renovations. And check out the neighbourhood by night as well as day: as in many Brazilian cities, crime can be a problem.

You’ll need a good guide, and a number of long-term British residents in the city are offering just such a buying service. Daniel Daly, who has lived in Brazil for more than 20 years.

Paraiba

For many years considered one of Brazil’s poorest and least developed states, Paraiba is largely overlooked by the package-holiday and property-tour crowd. It has fewer flights, and a poorer infrastructure, but there is a greater feeling of getting away from it all.

Pernambuco

The beautiful colonial town of Olinda, which adjoins Recife, the largely industrial state capital and site of the airport, is popular with sightseers, but most buyers head for the coast. One of the most attractive, upmarket schemes is the Reef Club, at Porto, set in 500 hectares of Atlantic rainforest and mangroves, an hour’s drive from the city. Buyers will have access to a planned VIP lounge at the airport. There will be 4,000 residential units. All have views of the golf course, ocean or rainforest. As well as enjoying the spa, health-conscious owners can opt into a bio-metric scheme that will measure their calorific intake and blood-sugar levels.

Rio Grande do Norte

If you need more extreme help to keep in shape, then one of the 13,500 properties planned for Lagoa do Coelho, a 35-minute drive from Natal, might be ideal. Purchasers will have access to dentistry and plastic surgery. AGS Properties has one-bed flats. Tourism and property prices look set to receive a further boost from the planned expansion of Natal’s airport.

The hot spots are Ponta Negra and Pipa, where the beaches are consistently voted among the best in Brazil. They attract a younger crowd, looking for a laid-back lifestyle of kitesurfing and cocktails. A second phase of larger villa-style holiday homes on the 350-hectare site will be released later in the year.

Ceara

The most developed spot on the northeast coast, Fortaleza is fast becoming the Torremolinos of Brazil.

http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/overseas/article3245446.ece

Rumble in the jungle

Brazil is home to the latest creation from the hotelier Anouska Hempel, says Kate Quill

ANOUSKA Hempel’s new project, Warapuru, is an ambitious new complex on an empty stretch of jungly coastline near Itacaré, beloved of surfers, in Bahia. The hotelier and designer became famous for her exacting eye for detail with her first hotel, Blakes, in South Kensington, which opened in the Eighties.

Hempel’s arrival in Bahia seems right for her. It’s a place favoured by chic, well-to-do bohos, which, to some extent, describes the New Zealand-born designer, who delivers luxury in a clean, Zen-like guise — pure and unostentatious.

Warapuru looks as if it will embody that stripped-down approach more strongly than any of her previous hotels. Wallpaper magazine has already described it as a “Bond lair”; my initial impression was of the strange, futuristic work of Le Corbusier — but Hempel swiftly puts me right. “It has nothing to do with that look,” she says icily. Still, it’s hard to describe — a minimalist, linear design that combines 20th-century Modernism with something altogether more weird: part Mayan palace, part — well, yes — Bond-villain fantasy.

Warapuru will be a top-end hotel with private villas attached, each with its own pool, which will be for sale but run and managed by the hotel. It is backed by João Vaz Guedes, a Portuguese hotelier, whom Hempel describes as a man with “great vision”. He has given her complete creative and managerial control of the project, from the architecture and interiors through to the food and spa products (the latter will be her own). Hempel appears to have learnt a few hard lessons from the sale of Blakes in 2004, which she bought back this year, apparently eager to reimpose her authority on it. “I will never, ever take on any project where I don’t have a sustainable design and management contract. I have to be in control,” she says firmly.

Details on Warapuru are still sketchy. The hotel is not built yet, and Hempel is “completely in the middle of the creative process”, which is why she could not give me exact room rates (“could be £500 a night, it depends . . .”), the overall budget (“that keeps changing”), or its capacity, but she gave a ballpark figure of 150 hotel rooms and 40 to 60 villas. The villas will cost anything between £500,000 and £1.5 million, she says, but they will be managed by the hotel, and owners can lease them back when they are not there.

Warapuru is stepped into the hillside and its vegetation, giving it, on paper, a look of something emerging from this wild, exotic landscape. There’s a conspicuous absence of doors. Instead there are long, vertical, recessed openings that could be corridors, or windows, or light shafts. Hempel seems to want to play on this ambiguity, so that you will surrender yourself to the abstract nature of the building, leaving your old life and habits — such as walking through rectangular doorways — behind. Hempel says the experience will be “like entering a citadel — you will walk between crevices and cracks, you will hardly ever see a door.

“The scale of it is extraordinary. It will be long, strange and strong, it will be homogeneous with the landscape, with the outside coming inside. It can be a retreat, or somewhere where you have innovative beauty treatments, go powersailing, climb banana trees, have picnics, or learn any sort of Brazilian dance you want.”

And will the project be ecologically sound? “If I can make it that way, then yes.” But when pressed, Hempel says that green principles are, in truth, not much of a concern for her guests, even though they may profess to care about them.

In the usual pattern of hotel openings, Warapuru’s launch date keeps shunting forward. Completion is now scheduled for 2007. To get there, you will fly to Salvador and then travel by car for about 90 minutes, although Hempel hopes to put a landing strip into the complex within a few years of its opening. It seems to mark a new, adventurous chapter in her design career, which has been quiet for a few years now.

And if Warapuru looks strange, her next project sounds downright subversive: a “totally anti-Vegas” hotel in Las Vegas, right on the Strip. “It’s a monastery,” she says, without a trace of irony.

http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/travel/destinations/latin_america/article624371.ece

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Wembley’s opening was positively punctual in comparison with Warapuru (www.warapuru.com; rates not yet set), Anoushka Hempel’s Brazilian resort. It was first scheduled for 2004; several missed completion dates since have merely increased anticipation among aficionados. La Hempel really will unveil the much talked-about Bond-villain fantasy in fashionable Itacare this spring, with a rainforest spa and a supersexy beach scene. Fly to Salvador, via Rio.