14 November 2008

Olympic excitement in Brazil!
 
I'm writing this blog from our office in Sao Paulo, Brazil the day after a huge event that we organised here to celebrate the start of our build up to London 2012. The Brazilians are sport crazy, so it was an obvious market to start making noise about the Olympic opportunity. Rio is also bidding for the 2016 games and hosting the 2014 FIFA World Cup, so the interest is strong.
 
Last night we had over 200 people attend our event including Brazilian Olympic Medalists and none other than Rai - a member of the 1994 World Cup winning team and a huge star in Brazil. (I asked him if he thought Robinho´s move to Man City was a good one - he was very diplomatic!) We also had great interest from the Brazilian media thanks to our PR Manager, Mitsi Goulias and the travel industry who are showing a strong interest in the UK thanks to the hard work of our Travel Trade Manager, Danny Guimaraes.
 
It is a great time to be promoting the UK in Brazil. So far this year, traffic to Britain is 51% up on 2007 (which in itself was an excellent year) and the economy remains stable. The Olympic event came hot on the heels of ABAV last month, when 10 UK suppliers joined VisitBritain at Brazil's largest trade show. The feedback I have received has been great and I know many of those attending did a great job of breaking further into the market.
 
Next year, our ambition is to invest more in Brazil to capitalise on the enthusiasm and excitement here. 
 
Watch this space!

Simon

Read previous blogs
Election Fever  05 November 2008

Are we heading to exchange rate heaven?? 30 October 2008

Fresh from Britain Marketplace 10 October 2008

The centre of a 'perfect storm' in the US 23 September 2008

New offices in Toronto and Canadian business update 07 August 2008

Current thinking on the state of the US market  20 June 2008

Positives & Opportunities from Canada & Brazil  24 April 2008

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