Business | Tourism
Tourism infrastructure works in Brazil attract UAE firms
UAE companies such as Dubai World and Dubai Holding are looking at real estate and tourism infrastructure projects in Brazil.
- By Shakir Husain, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:09 May 8, 2008
Dubai: UAE companies such as Dubai World and Dubai Holding are looking at real estate and tourism infrastructure projects in Brazil, a senior Brazilian official said.
"They are interested in building hotels, mixed-use real estate, resorts, residential properties," Laercio Roberto Lemos De Souza, general coordinator for investment promotion at the Brazilian Ministry of Tourism, told Gulf News.
He said Nakheel, IFA Hotels and Resorts, Dubai Investment Group and Emaar Properties are looking to invest in Brazil.
Dubai World has port interests in Venezuela and Peru, and has explored opportunities in Panama and Colombia.
Several private and government-controlled investors from the region are planning visits to Brazil for discussion, De Souza said. "Brazil is a stable country for investment. Our economy grew 5.4 per cent last year, and the domestic market is growing. For the first time the middle-class population is larger than the number of people who live in poverty," he said.
Brazil last year received a record $35 billion in foreign investment.
De Souza said the government has plans to spend $300 billion on building infrastructure in the next few years. It has identified 65 destinations, which will be revamped to make them suitable for foreign visitors. This includes promoting greater use of English.
Brazil plans to set up a tourism promotion office in the Middle East to attract more visitors from the region.
The number of tourists visiting Brazil has doubled in the last five years to reach five million.
"It is not a big number. Our target is to get 10 million tourists in 2010," De Souza said.
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