Two English Expats living in Brazil Launch World Cup Camping Rio

Two English expatriates have an alternative accommodation option for visitors for the World Cup; a campsite that fits 800 people.

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – With demand for available and affordable accommodations in Rio during the upcoming World Cup increasing, two property developers, Andrew Allan and Steve Pike, saw a business opportunity. Together the English expatriates founded World Cup Camping Rio, a campsite in the Zona Oeste (West Zone) neighborhood of Recreio, that will offer soccer (football) fans from around the world a viable accommodation alternative during their stays in Rio. The two friends originally meet in school in Seaford, Sussex, England. Andrew Allan was the first to arrive in Rio and launched the Real Property Holdings (registered as RPF Construção Ltda in Brazil), and Steve Pike, who previously worked on “talent identification initiatives” for UK school sports, arrived in Rio in 2012.

“Andrew moved to Rio in 2007, married a Brazilian girl, speaks fluent Portuguese and has been active as a property developer since 2008,” World Cup Camping Rio co-Founder and project director Pike explained to The Rio Times; “Andrew’s company [Real Property Holdings] has delivered several building projects in Rio Das Pedras, Itanhanga with multiple projects ongoing in Curicica.”

“We build for the lower to middle Brazilian residential market using investment from expat investors in Brazil and all over the world,” Pike added. When asked how the idea for the campsite originated, Allan told The Rio Times “Camping at the World Cup is not a new idea and has been very successful in previous tournaments such as Germany and South Africa.”

“So, we were very confident that supporters would be open to the idea, and we knew that demand for affordable accommodation would be high and we are fortunate enough to be in the perfect position to be able to react to the opportunity,” Allen continued.

Charging only R$140 per person per night for tent rental packages, the campsite is located in the neighborhood of Recreio with views of the city’s Zona Oeste forests and mountains.In addition to the beaches just minutes away from the location, there will also be an onsite pool for guests of the campsite. Bars and television screens showing live games will entertain the campers onsite, while World Cup Camping Rio 2014 staff members will also be available to assist with campers traveling to São Paulo and Belo Horizonte for England’s group matches during the Cup.

To help the campers enjoy their stay and the games safely, the site will also offer 24-hour professional security. “We know that some of the biggest concerns for supporters planning to visit is security and the cost of internal flights for those planning to follow their team,” co-founder Andrew Allan told The Rio Times. “We will be investing in professional security teams for a 24-hour presence on site, and we also offer cheap coach travel to São Paulo and Belo Horizonte, which can save supporters a lot of money when compared to the cost of an internal flight to these cities.”

“Brazil is the spiritual home of football. The passion for the game here is incredible and so we believe that the 2014 World Cup has the potential to be the greatest ever,” said Pike who says they have had a great deal of interest from supporters and stronger ticket sales than anticipated thus far. “Rio is a stunning city to visit and our experience of the people has always been warm and friendly,” Pike continued. “The draw backs are high costs for accommodations and travel, which could price ordinary supporters out of making the trip. But we believe that these disadvantages will work in our favor and it is our intention to offer supporters a budget alternative by ensuring our pricing policy if fair and affordable.” The campsite will open at 10AM on June 8th and close at 4PM on July 15th. It will be able to accommodate up to 800 visitors at a time.

With the World Cup just a couple of months away and the Olympic just around the corner there has never been a better time to turn your attention to Brazil especially if you’re an investor. Property investment in Brazil is on the rise in particular investment in the governments Minha Casa Minha Vida social housing programme.

Find out more about investing in Brazilian Property through the free resources at minhacasaminhavidabrazil.com/investment

Brazil Invests in new air traffic technology ready for the World Cup and Olympics

In the run up to the FIFA World Cup this summer, and the Rio Olympics in 2016, SITA is working with the Comissão de Implantação do Sistema de Controle do Espaço Aéreo (CISCEA) in its drive to improve Brazil’s air traffic management equipment. CISCEA is the body in charge of developing and implementing fresh technology for DECEA, the Brazilian Air Navigation Service Provider.

SITA, the world’s foremost supplier of air traffic management communications and IT solutions, already provides Departure Clearance (DCL) and Digital-Automatic Terminal Information Service (D-ATIS) datalink services at both Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo’s GRU Airport. These solutions will now be extended to 23 airports across Brazil in a plan to increase safety ready for the increased number of air traveller expecting over the next couple of years.

Major Brigadier Carlos Vuyk de Aquino, President of CISCEA, said: “Brazil has some of the most congested airspace in South America and we are very proud to be hosting two of the world’s biggest sporting events. We want everybody flying to, from and within Brazil to have smooth and uneventful journeys. It is therefore essential that our air traffic controller have access to the finest technology available today.

“This investment is not only for these big events, but is part of SIRIUS, DECEA’s major modernization program. A cornerstone of this program is the delivery of datalink services at Brazil’s main airports to transform air traffic communications. We have been working with SITA over the past ten years and we are confident that the SITA team will deliver exactly what we need.”

DCL, using SITA’s datalink solution integrated with local systems, streamlines departure control. The pilot requests departure clearance by sending a text message to the control tower and the controller responds, also by datalink. Likewise, using D-ATIS, real-time airport operational and weather information is transmitted to the pilot over datalink. Together DCL and DATIS will reduce overloading of the VHF voice frequency and so improve overall efficiency and safety. Philip Clinch, SITA Vice President of Aircraft Services, said: “Using datalink makes flying more efficient and even safer. The transmission of data in text format is highly reliable. It reduces workload for both air traffic controllers and pilots by improving the accuracy of their communications. And information can be transmitted at any phase of the flight, in advance of the busy time period of departure and approach.”

This massive project began back in December 2013 and is continuing as planned. The technology is being delivered in batches to four airports at a time and will be completed in time for the Olympic Games in 2016.

This article has been brought to you by EcoHouse Group, providing the latest and up to date Brazil News, visit the EcoHouse news pages for more news

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After the success of the minha casa minha vida housing scheme Brazil now Invests In Space

One of the fastest growing investment opportunities for Brazil these days is something many people find surprising. The subject or commodity in question is simply…space. No, that doesn’t mean the huge expanses of the Universe beyond our planet but rather something very much more down to earth.

It is in fact actual storage space for physical items, mostly manufactured goods awaiting shipment to end-user customers. In particular this includes the clients in Brazil of online retailers, a rapidly growing sector of sales and marketing. All around the world the online sales industry is growing by leaps and bounds and the South American economic giant is certainly no exception. After all, it’s now the sixth largest GDP economy in the world.

This means that Brazilian storage space in warehouses and the like is at a premium and will certainly become more so as the online sales industry continues to develop. It’s true that the country’s rate of growth has slowed a bit in the last year or two but absolute growth is still happening. The knock-on effect is that this particularly healthy area of retail does require more and more infrastructure.

The expansion is impressive. Warehouse space in Brazil is currently doubling in size. The larger cyber-retailers include well known names such as Wal-Mart and Arezzo (based at Cajamar, near Sao Paolo). Overseas investors are also getting in on the act and this list includes the Goodman Group and Prologis Inc. (based in California but currently operating over four million square feet of warehouse space in Brazil)). The firm has constructed massive warehouse facilities for leasing, an opportunity that is rapidly being taken up. In addition, the Rio Company B2W Cia Digital is adding ten new warehouse complexes in various states of Brazil over the next twelve months or so.

Online sales in Brazil are expected to increase by twenty percent this year, to the equivalent of over fifteen Billion US Dollars. This will only serve to increase the demand for temporary storage and warehouse space before shipping the goods to their final destinations.

At present it’s estimated that there are over eighty million square metres of warehouse space in Brazil, the world’s sixth largest GDP economy. Commentators forecast that this will need to double over the next five years or so. Probably, that target will not be fully achieved. This is because a lot of it will require completely new built premises as much of the older property cannot be easily expanded for a variety of reasons. However, everyone will strive to reach that goal. All in all, this area of the economy continues to provide excellent investment opportunities. It’s a good bet that one of the largest companies currently investing millions in Brazil’s housing sector, EcoHouse Group will also turn it’s attention to this new and up and coming commodity, after all the EcoHouse Group’s EH International brand already invests millions around the world in other sectors including land, roads, office blocks and student accommodation.

Watch this space for updates or visit the EcoHouse Group main website for updates and news about the latest projects and investments.

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Immigration in Brazil helping the Social Housing problem

With the launch of Minha Casa Minha Vida back in 2009 more and more people are happy to move to Brazil, not only from poorer South American countries but from Europe, Asia and North America, many of these visitor don’t set up permanent residency but rather choose to have Brazil as their second home so they can keep an eye on their businesses and investments.
Not only are investors cashing on the social housing programme thanks to real estate giants such as London based EcoHouse Group allowing people to invest in their minha casa minha vida developments, but many businesses are opening offices in Brazil due to the runaway success of the Brazilian economy.

It’s an understatement to say that immigration has been important for Brazil. In fact the truth is that the whole society has been a crucial blend, for centuries, of the contributions made by successive waves of incomers from Europe and elsewhere.
When the Portuguese first discovered the territory in the year 1500, the vast expanse had only about two and a half million native inhabitants. Apart from these, at first there were relatively few people from overseas, just a few thousand soldiers, sailors, traders and explorers. For a long time they tended to huddle in or near coastal regions including the new towns and ports of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paolo and northwards along the shore from there.

However, in the five hundred years since then the situation has been very different. For nearly three hundred years there were millions of African slaves (until the early nineteenth century) imported to work on the plantations and farms. Over the centuries there were also many more millions of landowners, entrepreneurs, workers and settlers from Portugal, Italy and Germany as well as a score of other countries, not all of them in Europe.  In that sense, Brazil’s experience has been very much like its North American counterpart, the USA, (although this has had a very much higher proportion of English speakers, of course!)

In terms of ‘free’ immigrants, significant levels of immigration took a long time to develop. This was true at least until the early 1800’s when many of the new ports were opened for the purpose. The inflow of these people was variable and influenced by very many factors.  According to historians, the busiest period for this was the half century or so between about 1875 and 1930. During these years an average of about 75,000 immigrants per year poured into Brazil, nearly half of them either Italians or Portuguese.

Since then there’s been a steady inflow of people from Europe and other places in particular the Middle East and Far East. Nowadays many Brazilian people have a partial ‘mixed’ heritage. This is a result of the (reasonably) harmonious relations and intermarriage between the races in the last century or so. This is of course in drastic contrast to the conflict of the slavery times and early colonial days.  Generally, the country now is a fairly cohesive one and friction between the various ethnic groups in society is not common. The governments of recent times have been at least acceptably successful in helping this.

This years World Cup and the upcoming Olympic Games in 2016 will no doubt spark additional interest in the country and hopefully bring even more businesses and investors to Brazil

Any interest in Investing in Minha Casa Minha Vida or Brazil as a whole should download the FREE Minha Casa Minha Vida Resources : Here!