Where are our tourist dollars coming from these days with the economic difficulties felt across the globe? As hospitality providers, we perhaps can look to the global economies to determine future tourism spending in Canada. Of the three growing economies of China, India and Brazil, the latter is worth a closer look right now. These countries are rising to be major world players economically and politically, and Brazil made an impact on our tourism picture in Canada last year.
According to the Canadian Tourism commission report for the last quarter of 2010, "The Brazil market showed the way forward for CTC’s Emerging/Transition markets (Brazil, China, India, Japan, Mexico and South Korea), posting seriously strong growth in spending (+32%) and overnighters (+26%), leading to an average spend per trip of $1,719." That's a very significant bump, especially when compared to the activity of the UK; our largest overseas travel market, where overnight spending went down 10%.
Who are these people from Brazil traveling to Canada and what type of tourists do they make here?
You might think people in Brazil speak Spanish, but Brazil is the largest Portuguese speaking country in the world! To give you an idea of climate, it's situated in South America and mostly tropical, being called, "land of the palm trees".
The traditional, everyday meal consists mosty of rice and beans with beef and salad. Its common to mix it with cassava flour. Fried potatoes, fried cassava, fried banana, fried meat and fried cheese are very often eaten in lunch and served in most typical restaurants. The national beverage is coffee and cachaça is Brazil's native liquor. Cachaça is distilled from sugar cane and is the main ingredient in the national cocktail, Caipirinha.
Brazilians tend to be generous and very friendly, even to strangers. The people there embrace art, theatre, music, literature, and poetry as an extension of their diverse and beautiful culture.
A few highlights on Brazilian tourists, but to learn more, visit this website!
