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Strategic Insights Business Recovery in the USA and Canada

If media reports are to be believed, Canadians look to be a particularly unhappy lot right now. The recent bout of inflation and interest rate rises appear to have precipitated a specific phase of economic suffering that has spilled over into personal lives, and that misery appears to be uniform across demographic and socioeconomic categories. According to one survey, financial troubles, inflation, and high interest rates are having an impact on Canadians' mental health, driving concern about housing and food.  Millennials, particularly those who own a home, appear to be the most vulnerable to economic downturns as interest rates rise on tight debt burdens and economic damage wreaks havoc on the economy and expectations. Burdened by debt and rising housing expenses, three-in-ten Canadians are "struggling" to make ends meet, with mortgage holders reporting trouble meeting housing bills up 11% from last June. If you have a place to live, you struggle to pay your bills, and
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Exploring Why Florida is Attractive to Brazilian Immigrants

 For many years, Florida has been known around the world as a great place for tourists to visit. Our tropical environment, beautiful beaches, and huge network of theme parks, restaurants, and hotels are some of the best in the world. A lot of our guests each year come from Latin America, and more specifically, Brazil. This is something that most people might not know. Many of our guests are from Brazil, and they make a big difference in the economy of Florida.

List of Visitors

Out of the 126 million people who came from outside of Florida in 2018, more than 1.1 million were from Brazil. Every year, about 10% of all the tourists from other countries who come to the Sunshine State are Brazilian. There are 21.6 million regular residents in Florida, so our Brazilian guests add 5% to the total number of people who live here each year. The average length of stay for each person is two weeks, and most of them stay in the Orlando and Miami metro areas.

What it does for GDP


Florida's GDP is about $1 Trillion a year right now. Given the large number of people coming from Brazil and the way they spend their money, Brazilian trade makes up a good chunk of that trade. Since 2008, I've worked directly with this trade and have seen it grow (and shrink) during that time. Along with the usual costs of airfare, hotels, food, and other travel-related things, a lot of people who come to Florida also go to one of our many theme parks and go shopping for one or more days. Using the amount of money that is usually given to each child on a group trip for shopping and food (around $3,000 USD based on my personal experience), one could guess that the Brazilian tourist trade brings more than $3 billion to the Florida economy every year.
Many of the Brazilians shopping in the U.S. are going to Miami and Orlando because those cities have the infrastructure to handle the extra people that come during the summer, and also because many of the visitors are teenagers on planned tours.
Offering services just for Brazilians
The International Drive area of Orlando is known for having a lot of businesses. Most of those businesses have Brazilian and Argentinian flags flying out of their windows. Around this trade, a whole small business has grown up. A lot of the shops are run by families from the area. A lot of them have staff that speaks Spanish and Portuguese. There are deals with tour companies and guides that let most of them bring bus loads of kids and families straight to their stores. A big part of this business was people from other companies going to Brazil to meet the tour group owners in person and at trade shows. Because of this, image is very important, and keeping promises about inventory and prices is a big part of making deals.

Time of year


Between certain times of the year, more people come from Brazil to visit Florida. Rio de Janeiro is in the Southern Hemisphere, so their winters are the same as our summer years.
In June and July, a lot of Brazilians come to the US. Tens of thousands of teenagers come in organized groups, which is something we will talk about in more depth later.
Around the middle of October, more people come to visit because October 12th and 15th are Children's and Teacher's Days in Brazil. A lot of families use this time to sneak in a trip and enjoy the extra days off from school. Apple products are cheaper in the US than in Brazil, where they can cost three to four times as much. This is when most new iPhone models come out, so Brazilians who fly to the US take advantage of the lower prices. I'll say more about that soon. Between December and March, families come more often than groups of kids. When Mom and Dad come along for the trip, the kinds of goods being sold change, and the average sales price (ASP) tends to go up. In Brazil, a party called festa de Quinze Anos, or just Quinze Anos, is held for girls before they turn 15. For this reason, many families choose to give their daughters the gift of a planned group trip to the US. Since the girls are going, the boys end up going too. Families usually put down a down payment around the time their child turns 13. Over the next two years, they save up for the rest of the trip. The average cost of these trips is between R$8,000 and R$12,800, which is about $2,000 to $3,000 USD. The prices include flights, transportation, and lodging. Most of the time, the trips last for two weeks. For extra spending money, each child usually gets between $2,000 and $3,000. A third of that is usually set aside for a new smartphone, and the rest is used to pre-order goods before the groups go to the US. The first stop for most of the groups is Miami, and then they fly up to Orlando. New York is also becoming a popular stop for these groups, but for now, the vast majority of them stay in the Florida area.

Many times, the groups take private buses so they can stay together


As soon as they get to their goal, it can be quite a sight: a hundred kids will rush into a business at once, making it hard for the staff to keep up. In the past, these groups have been known to show up around June or July.
What the USD/BRL Exchange Rate Means
The relationship between the US Dollar and the Brazilian Real is likely the most important thing that determines how many tourists come from Brazil. From what I've seen, this is true. Depending on this rate, sales of gadgets go up and down, and when the Real goes above 3.5, I've seen sales slow down at stores that cater to tourists. The chart below shows the USD/BRL exchange rate over the last five years. It matches what I saw when I sold goods and the number of sales in the Florida market during that time.

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