Shared expenses In the private resort Jacumã Ocean, the six partners divide the expenses of R$ 1,5 million a year in the maintenance of the place

A dinner at Sao Paulo’s Brasil a Gosto restaurant got together people so different as the ad Nizan Guanaes, the soccer player Ronaldo Fenômeno, the businesswoman Lucília Diniz and the CEO of Nestlé Brasil, Ivan Zurita.

In common, those present had the same wish: building the property of their dreams in the South of Bahia, famous for its desert beaches, endless coconuts plantations and sunlight all year long. The evening ended with a celebration.

Eleven of the present at the event –included the four previously mentioned– agreed to spend R$ 3.7 million to buy, in society, a piece of land in a future luxury condo that will be built on Itapororoca beach. Over the table of the restaurant it was agreed that the group would divide the costs of the construction and maintenance of the luxurious leisure areas.

Investments like those are transforming the cost of South Bahia in one of Brazil’s biggest business sites.

Golf field Carlos Régis Bittencourt and his partner invested R$ 50 million in Terravista, that owns one of Brazil’s best golf tees

The region, known as “Costa do Descobrimento” (Discovery Coast), has been attracting a larger number of persons with high purchasing power.

“The past five years, the place received R$ 1 billion on real state investments in resorts, secondary homes and luxury hotels”, says Loredano Júnior, lawyer of most of the region’s investors.

The 32 km (around 20 miles) of beaches that form the Discovery Coast start in Porto Seguro, pass through Arraial d’Ajuda, twist by Trancoso, Jacumã and Espelho beach before ending in Caraíva. With the exception of Porto Seguro, where popular tourism and an excessive number of hotels of all categories prevail, the other towns receive few visitors.

That is why the landscape resists mainly intact. A helicopter flight over reveals the preservation rate. From the sky it is possible to observe the transparent water of the sea, the cliffs and the green forests. And, of course, film mansions, some risen at the cost of more than R$ 6 million.

Few places in Brazil have experienced such a dizzying growth. A decade ago, when the rich haven’t discovered the region yet, the land was sold for laughable values. According to a recent survey, today the square meter of a piece of land by the sea costs 600 reais.

That is the same amount charged for a commercial square meter in Sao Paulo’s Iguatemi Shopping Mall, the most expensive in Latin America. If you want to invest, it is better to hurry: the price has doubled each year. The values go up in such a high speed that the land owners found themselves in a curious situation: who sells a property knows he is losing money. After all, the value tends to increase tremendously in a short period of time.
 

Polo field Michele D’Ippolito, partner at Outeiro das Brisas, invests R$ 7 million per year in his condo, that has a polo field and an airport

In a region with such level prices, there are no beach bars, children playing soccer, clouds of parasols on the sand. Instead, elite sports, as golf. One of the larger Brazil courses is located in Terravista condo, in Trancoso.

“Our best land is inside the golf area”, states Carlos Eduardo Régis Bittencourt, alias Calé, one of the endeavor’s partners. Calé arrived to Trancoso when he was 20. He had left college and the busy Sao Paolo’s life to isolate himself in Trancoso that, at the time, had 400 inhabitants. Today, at 55, Calé is one of the main real state investors of the coast.

“I defend the tourism for few and good guests, because it is a way of granting the local development and the beach preservation”, he says. In 2000, his partner Michael Rumpf-Gail and himself invested more than R$ 50 million in the construction of Terravista, first big region’s endeavor.

Three years later, a Club Med, belonging to the French hotel chain, was built inside the same Terravista. The demand encouraged Calé to invest in the construction of a 40-suite hotel with 90 square meters per room and luxury services as spa and high standard restaurants.

Without name yet, the hotel will receive investments of R$ 20 million, with opening due in the early 2010. For most of the businessmen who act in the region, the recent crisis hasn’t had an effect on their business. The growing of the investments is visible everywhere on the beaches of the Southern coast.

One of the most important is in the hotel condo on Itapororoca beach, a partnership between the Brazilian Itacaré Capital and Bahia Beat, a group of Sweedish investors. More than R$ 100 million will be invested on the endeavor that will gather luxurious summer homes and will belong to the Grupo Fazzano’s hotel chain.

Many foreigners inject fortunes into the region. On Taipe beach, the Spanish group Single Home will build a luxury-home condo. Only the purchase of the land consumed R$ 40 million.
 

Gains in Trancoso Franco (in black) opened a subsidiary of his Portuguese restaurant in Bahia. His business grows 15% per year

Trancoso beach is the favorite destination of the businessmen who invest in the Southern Bahia coast. It is there where the most charming restaurants are, the inns of daring architecture and exclusive service. The village’s main landmark is on the top of a cliff. It is São João square, most known as Quadrado (Square), when actually a rectangle.

In there no cars are allowed and colorful simple housing fight against decoration objects and designer clothing sales for the tourists’ attention. It is in that fancy place that the Italian Wilbert Das, Diesel’s creative designer –one of the top luxury jean brands worldwide-, opened Uxua Casa Hotel, a 9-house hotel, 90 to 240 square meters each, all with suites, kitchen and lounge.

The construction and decoration of the place, rustic-chic style, focused on native products. The roof is made of braided piaçaba (a water resistant palmtree fiber) and the showers of eucalyptus logs. The common area has a swimming pool of gravel stones and wood benches.

With all those attractions, the guests don’t mind to pay up to R$ 1.3 thousand per a luxury house in high season. The endeavor is a success. Two month after inauguration, all New Year’s travel packs were sold out. The price? The highest level house, for up to six people, costs R$ 73 thousand for a 10-day period.

“Here, what people look for is essentially luxury”, sustains André Georges Lattari, Uxua’s GM. A little bit cheaper, but still with prices accessible only to the rich, is Jacaré Inn, of Fernando Droghetti, who charges R$ 15 thousand for a couple’s New Year’s pack.

 The businessman sold his fancy decoration shop in São Paulo, Jacaré do Brasil, to invest R$ 500 thousand in his hotel in Trancoso.

 Also based on the house-hotel concept, the inn has an endless swimming pool and a villa for massages. “Nobody here can complain, because every business, if luxurious, works well”, says the Portuguese Nuno Fernando Franco, owner of the international restaurant El Gordo, opened in 2001.

 Franco has other three houses in Lisboa, his homeland, and decided to open a Brazilian subsidiary after spending his holidays in the region –as he did, hundreds, maybe thousands of Europeans may do the same in the Northeast of Brazil.

 The curious thing is that the sophistication of the properties and services has not been followed by the development of the local infrastructure. All beaches, starting from Trancoso, are connected by dirt roads full of holes.

 For many region’s investors, they help charm South Bahia and contribute to its preservation. One of the most common transportation means is by plane. There are two airstrips for private jets, one inside Terravista condo, and the other in Outeiro das Brisas, on Outeiros beach.

Luxury for a few Uxua Hotel’s André Lattari (above) and Jacaré Casas’ Fernando Droghetti (left) have sold out New Year’s packs. At Uxua, a 10-day stay costs R$ 73 thousand

Another option is still Porto Seguro International Airport, that helps the access of the Brazilian who come from the big capitals.

“The holidays, it is common the Paulistanos take less time to arrive here by plane than to Maresias, North cost of São Paulo, by car”, says Michele Roberto D’Ippolito, son of one of the first investors of the region.

The businessman is a partner in Outeiro das Brisas, one of the most traditional condos of Southern Bahia, located on Outeiros beach. There, the guests can chose between staying in one of the 25 villas in front of the sea or build a house up to 1,000 square meters as a secondary home.

The price of the properties goes up to R$ 5 million. “Each year, 10 new residences are constructed here”, says D’Ippolito. Opened in the early 90s, the condo offers uncountable comforts for its guests, as a polo field. In short, the leisure area will have a 9-hole golf field. “Every year we invest R$ 7 million in enlargements”, says the businessman.

The region’s new trend is relatives or friends joint investment. An example is Jacumã Ocean Resort, that belongs to six Brazilian businessmen.

Among them, Berardino Fanganillo, owner of GP Segurança Patrimonial, and Marcelo Mattoso de Almeida, partner of the investment company The First Class Group. Only in infrastructure, the businessmen have already invested R$ 7 million. Each of them has an amount of pieces of land and the expenses are shared.

The maintenance costs and payment of the 50 employees reach monthly R$ 120 thousand. To be a part of this private club, only with the approval of all the other partners. Absolute luxury.

Where are the foreigners?

Where are the foreigners?

Trancoso, in the Souther coast of Bahia, or Bora-Bora, in French Polynesia? For the Swiss Débora Senn Mohanathas, 29, and her Indian husband, Mani Mohanathas, 31, the answer is easy: Trancoso, no doubts.

Both are executives at UBS Bank, in Swiss, and chose to spend the first newly-wed days in Brazil because here they find not only cheaper prices, but mainly because the Northeastern beaches are more beautiful. “We guessed this place would really be unforgettable”, pointed out Débora. According to her, the Northeast of Brazil would always be remembered.

One of Brazil’s biggest touristic challenges is bringing more tourists like the couple above. It is not an easy task. Nevertheless the 8 thousand kilometers coast and more than 2 thousand beaches, the Amazon and Pantanal rain forests, Brazil is still a disaster when attracting foreign visitors.

In 2008, 5 million foreign tourists disembarked in Brazil, the same amount as in 2007. In France, country that receives most foreigners, the total amount of tourists from abroad reached the record of 81.9 million in 2008. Brazil is a mess even if compared to the freezing Ucrania (23 million foreigners), that has Chernobyl’s nuclear plant as one of its attractions.