The Economic and Cultural Appeal of Florida for Brazilians

Rolando Aedo, executive vice-president of the Greater Miami Office of Tourism and Conventions, says that it has been good for both cities' economies that Brazilians love Miami. In 2012, Brazilians surpassed Canadians as the largest group of foreign tourists in the city. They also bought more real estate than Canadians. In 2012, about 690,000 Brazilians went to Miami, which is 8.8% more than the previous year. They spent about $1.5 billion. "This has been very important for us: tourism has helped the economy as a whole, and Brazilians are at the center of tourism in Miami, as well as real estate, business, and starting their own businesses," says Aedo. In Miami-Dade County, the unemployment rate was about 12% a year after the start of the current financial crisis. Construction was also down sharply, and the number of foreclosures was on the rise.

A typical flight from Miami to many major cities in Brazil takes eight hours

There are also a lot of flights between Brazil and Florida, which has helped bring about the "intense influx of tourism that we see now," according to Helio Vitor Ramos Filho, the consul general of Brazil in Miami. There are 123 flights a week between Brazil and Florida right now. The port says that number will go up before the end of the year. Brazil's growing economy is another big reason for the rise in tourists from Brazil. These days, more Brazilians can afford to travel abroad than they could 10 or 20 years ago. Brazilian tourists are also more likely to want to travel abroad when the exchange rate is good. Aedo says that Brazilians have had a "incredible" effect on Florida's economy. He also says that if the U.S. accepts Brazil's visa-waiver program, there will be a huge influx of Brazilian tourists. The Brazilian ambassador agrees: "If Brazil were added to the visa-waiver program, there would probably be a huge influx of Brazilian tourists in the US." The need for a visa is still a problem for many Brazilians who want to travel abroad, says Ramos Filho. This is because getting a visa in Brazil means spending extra money on travel within the country just to get it, which can make the whole trip much more expensive. Brazil can't know if it has a chance at getting visa-free travel this year because the U.S. government decides if Brazil can join the visa-waiver program. Though, officials from both countries talk about it a lot, and things should get better over the next couple of years. On the bright side, the Brazilian consul said that the U.S. has cut down on the time Brazilian visitors have to wait for a visa, which he said has led to more Brazilian tourists visiting the U.S. Another important part of Miami's business that has been helped by Brazilians' ability to buy things is real estate. They passed Canadians as the largest group of foreign buyers in the city in 2011.

Liza Mendez, who is going to be president of the Miami Real Estate Agents' Association, said that 60% of the foreign buyers in Miami last year were from Brazil

Ramos Filho agrees that there are more Brazilians buying homes in Miami. He says this is because of the financial crisis of 2008 and the drop in prices across Florida that followed. The real estate bubble also hurt some towns in Brazil, which, he said, made Miami even more appealing because of its low prices. The numbers show that 61% of these Brazilian buyers bought condos and 42% bought the homes so they could spend their holidays there. "The effect has been very good because it has made the real estate business more active." Ramos Filho says, "They keep coming because Brazilians are strong, and that has a domino effect on the restaurants and shopping centers." There is a chance, though, that this trend will not go over well with the U.S. tax officials in Brazil. Mendez says that the average price that Brazilians pay for a home is between $200,000 and $299,000, which is "a little more than other international buyers." We've already written about how much Brazilians love Florida in other parts of this blog. Facts show it: the Foreign Ministry says that around 300,000 Brazilians live in Florida! Florida is the sunshine state of the United States, and Brazil is known as the "country of the sun." This is one reason why many Brazilians choose to move to Florida. Brazilian businessmen and people looking for a better, more peaceful life are drawn to the south of the state because it is close to Brazil and has a Latin culture that is already well-established. But Florida isn't the only place where Brazilians can find something good.

It's also important to know how Brazilians affect the business of South Florida

When these 300,000 Brazilians moved to the area (60% in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties), they helped South Florida's economy get back on its feet through business growth, tourists, real estate sales, and exports. When it comes to tourism, we are the third most popular foreign visitors to this state, making up 10% of all the tourists who come to Florida. We also spend the second most on things like shopping, tours, hotels, restaurants, and other things. Brazilians run Miami, Orlando, and tourist parks like they own them. The study, which was paid for by Visit Florida, found that tourism is the state's main business. In 2015, visitors, 84% of whom were there for fun, spent 108.8 billion US dollars, or about $300 million every day. About 24% of the 85 million people who got off the ships in 2016 were from outside of Brazil. That's more than 14 times as many guests as the whole country of Brazil gets. Four million of them are Canadian, 1.7 million are English, and 1.5 million are Brazilian. Along with the other countries, they left about US$25.7 billion in the local banks.

Most tourists from their own country stay in the state for four days

Of course, visitors stay for an average of 11 days to cover the cost of their travel and lodging. This means that foreign tourists directly bring in money for the food (20%), trade (14%), pleasure (14%), land transportation (12%), and aviation (10%) sectors. If we look at the money that is made by other industries, like banking, education, agriculture, fishing, fuel, health, wholesale, building, services, manufacturing, communication, and so on, we can't forget about the indirect revenues. Visit Florida paid for a study that found that for every 76 visitors, one new job is created. This means that 1.4 million people work directly or indirectly with tourism, which brings in 50.7 billion dollars. Just in terms of taxes, tourism brings in about $44.4 billion for Florida. That is, if Florida residents didn't get these kinds of taxes from tourists, they would have to pay $1,500 to the government every year to keep providing the same services to citizens.