Brazil has posted some of the fastest economic growth of all the BRICS countries and the combination of business expertise with the vibrancy of its major cities is a big appeal to conference and event organisers.
Rio de Janeiro offers 28,000 hotel rooms across all categories and its international airport links the city to 80 countries.
Rio has the largest convention centre in Latin America, Riocentro. It has 100,000sqm of event space.
The city, famous for its carnival, which draws 2m partygoers, is now the next host of the Olympic Games in 2016 and the FIFA World Cup in 2014, for which major investments are being made to improve infrastructure.
Rio is a cosmopolitan city framed with picture postcard scenery. There are 90km of beaches and the statue of Christ the Redeemer is one of the seven New Wonders of the World. Forbes Magazine recently dubbed Rio the Happiest City in the World.
The International Congress and Convention Association has ranked Rio among the top 20 world cities for international association conferences several times in the last decade.
The World Congress of Neuroscience is booked in to Rio in 2015 and the Conference of the International Cartographic Association in 2015.
The list of European corporates and large organisers that have used Rio for conferences or incentives last year includes: Siemens, Nokia, BASF, Novartis, BMW, Etisalat, Kenes, Reed Exhibitions and MCI.
Rio, for some, has some negative preconceptions to overcome, not least the issue of crime. Staying close to the central event venues is not always recommended for safety reasons.
Arriving in Rio is fairly easy. Customs and passport control are fairly smooth, but when you hit the taxis you find out the traffic can be bad and switching terminals can take a while if you’re connecting flights.
P&MM agency’s Marketing and Communications Director of Events and Communications, Sandra Collins, was recently in Rio and thinks delivering both the World Cup and the Olympics within two years will be “a big ask”.
“Infrastructure is a big issue with the lack of decent public transport making getting around difficult. There are only two underground rail lines serving a sprawling population of 6.2m, which means the city is frequently gridlocked,” she says.
The country’s Sports Minister has said the core focus of the two global tournaments is infrastructure legacy.
A new underground line and dedicated bus lanes are being built to cut journey times and an improved link from Rio’s main airport is anticipated.
“Everywhere we went our hosts were keen to point out that new roads were being planned and hideous old concrete flyovers were to be demolished and replaced with new tunnels to ease congestion,” says Collins.
“Any change will benefit any of us who operate conferences and events there for clients,” she adds.
In terms of sectors that could spawn steady meetings growth, Brazil’s media and entertainment industry is fast developing. Brazil’s creative sector accounts for 2.5 per cent of GDP and has grown by about 500 per cent in the last decade.
PwC research has claimed Brazil’s total spend on media and entertainment grew by 56 per cent between 2006 and 2010, compared to just seven per cent in Germany and eight per cent in the UK.
Diogo Assis, Chief Executive of Lisbon-based destination management company TLC Events, recently opened an office in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro and told a session at the EIBTM show in Barcelona in November 2012 that poor English was one of the biggest issues facing the meetings industry in Brazil.
“The next generation is equipped with much better language skills,” he adds. His take on crime in Brazil was that it was “more perception than reality”.
Assis warns organisers that the Brazilian banking system remains unsophisticated and the tax system complex.
If organisers can neogotiate these issues, Brazil offers a stunning backdrop for incentive trips. P&MM has a two-centre programme involving Rio and the Iguassu Falls on the border with Argentina. The company says there are hotel options to suit most budgets, with boutique designer hotels in Rio such as the Hotel Santa Teresa, through to large convention hotels such as the Windsor Atlantica. If budget is big, P&MM recommends the Copacabana Palace.
This five-star hotel has a sister property in Iguassu allowing check-in in Rio and check-out in Iguassu.
Chris Clarke, Director of Events at P&MM Events & Communications says Rio is “exciting, sexy and it offers a huge amount of choice. The hotel stock is not as grand as it could be considering its status as a world city, but this will improve.
“Some of the best DMC’s are European owned or managed, so they ‘get’ our market. It is a popular city operating in a supply and demand market place, so it can be pricey.
Either way, with a little care and preparation, it is a destination that delivers against expectation.
“At last, Brazil is becoming a major economy, so that must mean more business traffic and conferences with it.”
In terms of other Brazilian destinations for meetings and events, Sao Paulo houses Latin America’s largest stock of hotels and is a global dining capital. It hosts 10m visitors a year and has a population of over 10m.
The Sao Paulo Fashion Week is the largest annual fashion show in Latin America.
There are two airports and the city has the most helicopters in the world.
The province of Recife in the North East of the country has in recent years tried to develop its appeal as a MICE destination, with flying times to Europe considerably shorter than the journey to Rio or Sao Paulo. However, the air-landing fees are higher.
Other locations to consider for events and conferences would be the capital Brasilia, a planned community built in just four years; the mining city of Belo Horizonte; and car manufacturing centre and Brazil’s ecological capital Curitiba. And, for real getaways, there’s always the Amazon.
This was first published in Issue 70/2012 of CMW. Any comments? Email cmw@mashmedia.net
