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56 Brazil
ing a product or service into several brands, where
each appeals to a different group of customers,
companies can use branding to help market
segmentation.
In legal terms, the protection of brands was first
established by the end of the nineteenth century, to
allow manufacturers to differentiate their products
from those without a brand name and other
competitors' products. The major growth of
branding, though, happened after the US Civil
War when American firms and the advertising
media industry started to grow.
It is important for companies to manage their
brand names as if they were any other asset. If
brands are well-managed, they can produce
revenues and considerable profits that can either
be invested in the same brand again or in other
company projects. If on the contrary they are
poorly managed, they can drain important resources
until it is decided to discontinue the brand.
If managers are able to know customers' perception
of their brands, they are able to successfully
manage and even extend them to other products
and services.
Further reading
Kotler, P., Bowen, J. and Makens, J. �1996)
Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism, New Jersey:
Prentice-Hall. �Defines branding, provides the
main concepts related such as brand name,
brand mark, brand decision and identifies the
main characteristics of a brand.)
Slattery, P. �1991) `Hotel branding in the 1900s',
Travel and Tourism Analyst: 23±35. �Addresses the
issue of branding and makes prediction for the
hotel industry of the growth of superchains.)
Brazil
RICHARD TEARE, UK
JORGE COSTA, PORTUGAL
Unlike the former Spanish colonies of Latin
America, Brazil maintained its political unity after
independence in 1822 and became the largest
Latin American nation state. Brazil is vast in terms
of geography, population and natural re-
sources. It has a physical extension of 3.3 million
square miles, the fifth largest country in the world.
The population count reached an estimated 160
million in 1997, also the world's fifth largest. The
country has many natural resources, ranging from
iron ore to petroleum and natural gas to copper,
gold and diamonds.
Although it has been politically unified along its
recent history and capable to manage its ethnic
diversity and varied cultural heritage, Brazil has
not yet created a modern economy. Only recently
was the country able to overcome some of the
former roadblocks to economic development.
The overall rate of growth for the period 1990±5
was 4±5 per cent. However, its gross national
product in 1996 was about $580 billion and the
country's per capita income in the same year was
$3,640, far away from the present international
threshold to development. At the same time, Brazil
remains one of the most unequal countries of Latin
America, and its uneven social development helps
to explain the many twists and turns that have
affected its economic performance. In 1996, 72 per
cent of the Brazilian population had not completed
the primary level of education, acting as a drag on
the road to growth.
Something similar has happened in the tourism
field. On one side, Brazil has many of the
attractions that draw mass tourism. It has
beautiful tropical and sub-tropical beaches, yearround
warm weather and some excellent resorts,
old and new. The Amazon basin is a magnet for
ecotourists and the IguacËu waterfalls are a sight
enjoyed by many. Rio de Janeiro Bay is very
beautiful, and the city itself has some world-class
beaches �Copacabana, Ipanema, Leblon). Every
year, it hosts the well-known Carnival celebration
and thousands of people, many of them tourists,
participate in the parades organised by the samba
schools, which thanks to television are watched
by millions. On the cultural side, Bahia, the town
of Jorge Amado, has all the quaint charm of
colonial times, beautiful monuments and buildings,
and a rich black cultural heritage.
On the other hand, the Brazilian tourism
industry has been unable to turn those excellent
assets into a world-class destination. International
arrivals fell sharply at the end of the 1980s to
reach just over one million in 1990, nearly halving