RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL-Marriott International Inc. has sold off its JW Marriott on Copacabana Beach resort here to Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. for $47.5 million in cash. The move was part of Marriott’s plan to divest all property ownership and concentrate on management, according to Jones Lang LaSalle, which arranged the sale.

Marriott will continue to operate the resort on a long-term management agreement with Host, says Gregory Rumpel, EVP for JLL. The 245-room property is across from Copacabana Beach and is near the city’s CBD.

Rumpel tells GlobeSt.com that the sale was part of Marriott’s “asset light” global strategy. “There’s only a handful of Marriott-owned properties left, and they’re looking for the opportunity to divest those as well, to focus on the management side.”

Rio is the most popular tourist area in the country, JLL says, representing about 32% of all travelers to the country. However, the burgeoning middle class in Brazil will also be well-served by this hotel, one of the few non-locally-owned hotels in the region, Rumpel says. “This is truly a dynamic emerging market, it has the horsepower, size and resources for a strong economy. While the US is navel-gazing at how to get out of the doldrums, Brazil is growing dramatically, and their growing affluent domestic base will have a need for intra-country travel.”

The country, now the world’s eighth largest economy, is expected to move up to fifth-largest by 2016. Rio will have national recognition as it will host the 2016 Olympics.