Cape Town Tourism has released a list of the top 10 insights into the Brazilian market, following the ABAV – Fair of Americas, the Latin American travel and tourism event, which took place last month. 
With the Brazilian market showing growth of 5,6% from 2012 to 2013, with 82 802 visitors to South Africa in 2013, it is a market worth focusing on, said Velma Corcoran, Executive Marketing Manager at Cape Town Tourism: “Despite a slowdown in the growth of its economy, Brazil is a market worth paying attention to. Well-travelled Brazilians tend to go first to the USA and Europe, and then look toward more ‘exotic’ destinations. South Africa is considered a gateway to many of these exotic destinations, and it’s on their ‘hot-lists’.” 
Here are the key insights into the Brazilian market: 
• Brazilians are loyal to travel agents and many still buy packages from an agent.
• 80% of Brazilians pay for most things in instalments through credit cards.
• São Paulo is cited as one of the most expensive cities in the world so Cape Town offers excellent value-for-money by comparison.
• Their average length of stay is three days.
• Content-rich information about CT is in demand. When dealing with Latin America, it is important to translate into the local language, e.g. Brazilian Portuguese (Brazil) and Spanish (Argentina, Chile etc).
• The perception in Brazil is that SA is far away, however flights from São Paulo to JNB are only eight hours (ten hours on return).  Flights to the US, their most popular destination, are 10 hours.
• Brazilians are very focused on family travel. They do not view CT as a family-friendly holiday destination, so this is an important area to work on. 
• Visitors generally come to SA for ten days. This is most likely to include an overnight in Johannesburg, a spell in the Kruger or an alternative safari destination and then on to CT.  
• Brazil’s high season for travel is July, their school holidays, as well as during our summer months. 
• The key segments that have been identified and that are being actively promoted in this market are: luxury travel, the gay and lesbian traveller, family, shopping and nature.