Date Announced for Brazilian Hospitality Investment Conference Presented by Questex Hospitality + Travel


NEWTON, MA--(Marketwire - Dec 14, 2012) - Questex Hospitality + Travel, the world's largest multinational media, event and e-commerce company serving the global hospitality and travel industry, today announced that the 14th annual Brazilian Hospitality Investment Conference will be held June 13-14, 2013, at the Tivoli Mofarrej in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

BHIC, produced in partnership with BSH International, will connect domestic and international investors, developers and senior hospitality professionals, real estate investors, tourism intermediaries and finance companies together in a global setting to facilitate and encourage business networking and deal-making.

Interviews and panel discussions conducted by hospitality executives and government representatives will explore how the country can attract investments and new brands and how Brazilian companies can expand their brands at a global level.

Topics were identified by the newly appointed BHIC Advisory Board, composed of a wide spectrum of prominent hotel owners, operators, franchisors, management companies, marketers and analysts who have the pulse on the Brazilian hospitality and tourism scene.

Chelsea Patriquin, Questex conference manager for BHIC, said a key role of the board is to ensure that the conference focuses on topics that are immediately relevant to attendees. "We have a high-profile and enthusiastic advisory board representing Brazil's current market, which on one hand is traditional, and on the other is fairly new and eager to act," she said.

The board includes 16 representatives from Accor, La Quinta, Host Hotels & Resorts, XP Investimentos, BTG Pactual, Interval International, NH Hoteles, Horwath HTL, Tecnisa, Odebrecht Realizações Imobiliárias, Lobo e de Rizzo Advogados, the Ministry of Tourism and Wyndham. The board will meet again next month in São Paulo.

The partnership merges the collective resources of Questex Hospitality + Travel, organizer of the International Hotel Investment Forum (IHIF) Summit Series, the world's largest series of hospitality investment conferences, and BSH International, Brazil's leading hospitality investment expert.

Jose Ernesto Marino Neto, BSH International founder and president, is conference co-chair. He founded BSH International in 1989 to attract new investments to his country. The company introduced Sol Melia Hoteles of Spain, SuperClubs International of Jamaica, Howard Johnson, Ramada, Days Inn and Sonesta International of the United States and Tivoli of Portugal to Brazil.

Kerry Gumas, Questex Media Group LLC president and chief executive officer, said Questex and BSH International will multiply the impact of the Brazilian Hospitality Investment Conference by launching "inward and outward" trade missions to promote Brazil.

"These missions, to be branded Innvest Brazil, will generate awareness, promote foreign investment initiatives and develop relationships with investors and top industry professionals in key global investment hubs in conjunction with our IHIF Summit Series," he said.

For more information about BHIC, go to www.ihifbrasil.com or contact Chelsea Patriquin, conference manager, at cpatriquin@questex.com.

BSH International, based in São Paulo, has been responsible for investments valued at $1.9 billion (or $3 billion Brazilian reais) in the Brazilian hospitality and tourism real estate markets. The company is a complete hospitality asset management firm, partnering development and ownership of hotels. BSH also maintains an advisory services division that performs market and economic-financial feasibility studies and hotel appraisals.

Questex Hospitality + Travel, the largest multimedia organization in the world dedicated to hospitality and travel, drives revenue, productivity and value creation for these related industries through strategic investment and deal-making forums, powerful lead-generation tools, interactive online business solutions, world-class events and industry-leading publications.

The Questex Hospitality Group, a division of Questex Hospitality + Travel, operates throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa and Asia-Pacific region through a variety of market-leading properties and services including the International Hotel Investment Forum (IHIF) Berlin, North America Hotel & Tourism Investment Conference, Asia Pacific Tourism Destination Investment Conference, North Asia Hotel Investment Conference, Russia & CIS Hotel Investment Conference, Central Asia & Turkey Hotel Investment Conference, HOTEC Design North America and HOTEC Operations & Technology North America; lead generation portal HotelManagement.net; and industry news delivery services in print, online and mobile worldwide via IHIF: Hotel Investment News along with Hotel Management and HA+D magazines. For more information, visit www.questex.com.