By Lizette Alvarez (The New York Times)
Cristiano Piquet, center, showed a Miami Beach condominium to a Brazilian. Founded in 2005, Piquet Realty has doubled its business in the past year and caters to Brazilians. Jason Henry for The New York Times
MIAMI - Flush with cash from a booming economy and enamored of luxury, Brazilians are visiting South Florida in droves and spending millions of dollars on vacation condominiums, clothes, jewelry, furniture, cars and art, all of which are much less expensive here than in Brazil.
As a thank-you, Floridians are creating innovative ways to make the Brazilians happy and to encourage them to keep buying. Real estate agents, for example, have cobbled together one-stop-shopping firms that offer interior decorating and concierge services as well as legal advice and visa help. Some agents have even opened offices in Brazil to simplify the process.
Shopping malls have enticed them by hiring Portuguese-speaking sales clerks to proffer Dolce & Gabbana dresses and Hublot watches. Even Target has posted help-wanted signs in Portuguese. Brazilian restaurants are also flourishing across Miami.
"We come to Miami to invest because in my country housing is very expensive," said Claudio Coppola Di Todaro, a hedge fund investor from Sao Paulo who recently bought a condominium at Trump Towers in Sunny Isles Beach and another at the Trump SoHo in Manhattan. "We like Miami to go on vacation a few times a year. Many Brazilians do this now."
While the United States and Europe continue to grapple with recession, Brazil's economy, powered by exports, a growing manufacturing base and abundant natural resources, gallops forward. Unemployment in October was 5.8 percent, and at the end of December it passed Britain to become the sixth-largest economy in the world.
Brand-conscious Brazilians love to use their money - cash, above all - ranking first per capita in spending among the top 10 groups of foreign visitors to the United States, a list that includes the French, British and Germans. In all, 1.2 million Brazilians visited in 2010 and spent $5.9 billion, or $4,940 for each visitor. Only travelers from India and China outspent the Brazilians, but far fewer visit, and they are not among the top 10.
The Brazilians' economic impact is so powerful that the travel, restaurant, lodging and retail industries, along with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, have been lobbying Washington to let Brazilians travel here without visas, as the citizens of the European Union countries do.
American Airlines now has 52 flights a week to Miami from five cities in Brazil, and has applied for more routes.
Among foreign nations, only Canada sends more visitors to Florida.
The Brazilians' money has helped resuscitate the real estate market in Miami. Foreigners account for more than half of all property sales in Miami, and condominium towers that once sat empty are quickly selling out.
"Brazilians in many ways have been the saving grace here," said Edgardo Defortuna, president of Fortune International Realty, which has offices in Brazil and Miami. "Price is not much of an issue for them."
Brazilians here slip into the Latin American lifestyle - late dinners and familiar fashions, food and music. And the relative safety of the United States is a bonus. Rio de Janeiro's murder rate, while declining, is nearly triple of that in Miami.
Extended networks of Brazilians often buy condominiums in the same building, like the W in South Beach.
"In Miami, they can come here and wear expensive watches and drive their convertible cars, and nobody will cut your arm for a piece of jewelry, like happens at home," said Alexandre Piquet, a Brazilian lawyer for Piquet Realty, which was founded by his brother, Cristiano, a well-known race-car driver.
"Here we don't have to worry about kids crossing the street and getting kidnapped, some of the issues we still face down there. It's the reality," Alexandre Piquet added.
Piquet Realty, founded in 2005, has doubled its business in the past year, Cristiano Piquet said. Some apartments it sells come fully furnished by Artefacto, a prominent Brazilian furniture designer. If Brazilians need help with legal transactions, tax matters or immigration advice, the firm offers that, too. If a customer wants a Ferrari, Piquet Realty arranges it.
Like so many businesses in South Florida, the firm aggressively promotes itself in Brazil, as does Miami's tourism board and Florida's governor, Rick Scott, who traveled to Brazil in 2011 on a trade mission.
This zest for spreading cash is the main reason why the visa battle is beginning to resonate on Capitol Hill.
"You could probably double the number of Brazilians in the United States" if visas were not required, said Patricia Rojas, a vice president at the U.S. Travel Association. "We are at a complete disadvantage."
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