Above: the British Virgin Islands

By the Caribbean Journal staff

British Virgin Islands Premier Dr Orlando Smith recently concluded a trade mission to Brazil, courting financial services investors and potential tourists.

The BVI delegation hosted a series of financial services promotion workshops in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, and led several tourism promotion events. The delegation attended the sixth annual Brazil Investment Summit, at which the BVI was a “platinum sponsor,” according to Smith.

“Overall, the BVI financial services practitioners came away with a number of viable opportunities to strengthen, grow and expand the BVI business in the Brazilian market,” Smith said.

The Premier, who is also the territory’s Minister of Tourism, also led the delegation to Travel Week Sao Paulo, a four-day luxury travel networking event during which the BVI Tourist Board held a series of one-on-one meetings with travel professionals.

“Brazil is quickly becoming an important market for BVI Tourism and measurable growth has been seen in tourism arrivals,” Smith said. “Brazil’s attributes of economic stability and growing wealth lends itself as a natural target market for BVI Tourism.”

The BVI is the latest Caribbean territory to seek investors and tourists from Brazil, drawn by the promise of Latin America’s largest economy, although improve airlift will be essential to any significant improvement in tourism from the South American giant.

“We have created a foundation on which to build on in Brazil and Latin America, as we attempt to diversify and explore new markets, in order to ensure further development of our two pillar industries and the long term stability and growth of the economy of this territory,” Smith said.