SAO PAULO, BRAZIL-A report about the Brazil hotel industry showsthat in 2009, the country’s lodging companies posted an averagedaily rate growth of 10.4% for the year, boosted by the country’squick economic rebound in the second half of the year. Followingthis turnaround, the country is one of the rising stars of theinvestment world, and has about 153 hotel projects in constructionor advanced planning.

The Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels report, “Lodging Industry inNumbers – Brazil 2010,” shows that last year did produce a fewhospitality hiccups, including occupancy rates softened by 1.4% andgross operational profit down by 1.1% as firms reduced the numberof meetings, events and banquets. However, revenue per availableroom (RevPAR) grew to $63.76 in 2009, the highest in Brazil’shistory, according to JLL EVP Ricardo Mader.

This year has shown even further growth, he said in a statement.“Across the 15 hotels we asset manage across Brazil, we havealready been observing double-digit RevPAR growth thus far in2010,” Mader said.