On October 3, 2009, when the CIO awarded the Olympics 2016 to Rio de Janeiro, president Lula wept: “this is one of the most moving days of my life. We only needed an opportunity to show that we are a great nation. I am proud to be Brazilian. Rio deserved it. Brazil deserved it. The Brazilian people deserved it.” With the FiFA World Cup in less than four years now, Brazil is preparing to live a decade full of hope, happiness and also challenges. 2014 and 2016 will both reveal the progress made by the South American giant and act as a springboard leading inexorably towards status as a great world power.Investors come to launch our brands and we know how to work with local partners. We have no majority partner, but a network of midsize regional players who continue to develop our hotels according to our specifications. Our pipeline has 61 hotels and 8,000 rooms including 48 Ibis and Formule 1. Our goal is to cover 95 cities in 3-4 years versus 60 today. With a high volume of domestic tourism, it is essential to be present in secondary and tertiary cities to develop recognition of our brands. On these markets where space is often limited, we give preference to franchising.”Until now, Brazil has kept course. The country rapidly stood from the storm that shook the world in 2009. “Before, when there was a crisis, Brazil collapsed. This time the country resisted, demonstrating its capacity to realize and follow its own path,” congratulates Roland de Bonadona, general manager Accor Hospitality for the region. Prudent, the banking sector, led by the public bank Banco do Brasil and the union of Itaú- Unibanco, was unaffected by the crisis. The Sao Paulo stock exchange and the real rapidly regained their level prior...