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68 DAYSPA | JUNE 2014 GLOBAL SPEAK The Body Beautiful As host of the soccer World Cup and Olympic Games, Brazil is in the spotlight now more than ever. But are its spas just as worthy of our interest? By Lisa Starr This month, the world's attention will turn to South America, as hundreds of thousands of peo- ple descend on Brazil for the soccer World Cup. So we've decided to join them, fi guratively speaking, to explore the world of spas and beauty from the Brazilian perspective. For most people, Brazil brings to mind the Amazon River, Rio's Carnival and scantily clad young women from Ipanema. But there are many other sides to South America's largest and fastest-growing country. In 1500, Brazil was claimed by Portugal, which ruled for 300-plus years, and thus the national lan- guage is Portuguese, not Spanish, as it is in much of the rest of South America. In the decades since civilian democratic governance began in 1985, Bra- zil has been the economic powerhouse for the con- tinent. It is the fi fth largest country in the world, at about 3.28 million square miles (roughly the same size as the U.S.), with 26 states. Known for its abundant natural resources such as coffee beans, soybeans, wheat, rice, corn, sugar- cane, cocoa, citrus and beef, Brazil is also a well- developed industrial nation, boasting heavy machin- ery, chemicals and textiles among its exports. Brazil is Latin America's fastest-growing tourism economy, with tourism representing more than 3% of the country's GDP, according to the World Tour- ism and Travel Council. The employment generated by travel and tourism is expected to grow by 4% in 2014, due in part to the infrastructure improve- ments and travel resulting from the World Cup and upcoming 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio. The World Cup, a month-long global soccer competition held every four years, will draw an es- timated 600,000 foreign tourists to Brazil, and ap- proximately three million domestic tourists will visit the 12 cities that are hosting games. The event also serves as a warm-up for summer 2016—the country has been racing to build the stadiums and hospi- tality and transport infrastructure required for both CORCOVADO © CHRISTIAN ADAMS/GETTY; CARNIVALE, COPACABANA: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM; FÚTBOL PLAYER: © MOODBOARD/THINKSTOCK G l o b a l S p e a k . i n d d 6 8 Global Speak.indd 68 5 / 1 / 1 4 3 : 3 4 P M 5/1/14 3:34 PM