Investment Boom

Península de Maraú- Península tip from the air.

European investors, notably those from Portugal, UK, Spain, Scandinavia, italy- have joined the Gold Rush to the Northeast of Brazil. The rate at which resort, second residential and hotel construction is proceeding is breathtaking. And of all Northeast states, Bahia leads the pack. A nd Bahia also leads the rest of Brazil in tourist development.

Bahia - A Tourist Hotspot

A new report by the Brazilian Ministry of Tourism has identified Bahia as a key tourist hotspot that is set for a boom in visitor numbers and wealth over the next few years.


Bahia has been particularly successful in transforming itself from a state with an agricultural base to one that leads the way in tourism. It has achieved this by implementing a 3 stage policy that stretches right back to the 70’s, when it initially identified the areas that had the highest tourist potential.

It subsequently developed a programme of policies aimed at enhancing the culinary, religious, craft and cultural reputation of the state in order to complement the fantastic natural landscape already present.

First and foremost of these new destinations is Belmonte, a town of 18,000 residents that currently has just 180 hotel beds, which is set for investment of more than £84 million as developers and hotel chains from England, Spain, France and Switzerland plan the construction of 5 resorts in the area.

The investment amounts to around 28 times the current GDP of the area and will add more than 1100 rooms, creating nearly 2,000 jobs for the area, a process which the secretary for Tourism in Belmonte, Eraclito Lima Santana said would cause, “a radical change in the economic profile of the area”.