INTERNATIONALIZATION OF SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE HOTEL NETWORKS IN BRAZIL THE NORTERN COAST OF BAHIA

Abstract

This paper presents the internationalization strategies of the Portuguese and Spanish hotel networks, focusing on Brazil, more specifically the Northern Coast of the state of Bahia. In contrast with the current dominant trends, the internationalization of Spanish hotel companies occurred mainly through foreign direct investment, more precisely through greenfield investment. Indeed, transnational companies of the hotel sector have not often used FDI as a mode of entry, but other mechanisms such as management contracts, franchising, and other forms of agreement. Portuguese companies, for example, have promoted their internationalization through acquisitions, management contracts and rent. These paths to internationalization of Iberian hotel networks have intensified in the last ten years due to strategic alliances between groups with interests in tourism, hotel sector, real estate and institutional funds for the construction of new projects following the logic of the touristic-residential complexes, mainly for second residence, a relatively recent phenomenon in Brazil.