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Osceola County wants advertisers to promote county in Brazil

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Osceola County wants to pick up the tab for several people promote Osceola County to residents of Brazil.

The idea is that face-to-face advertising will translate into more tourists coming to the county.

All through the city there are signs promoting tourism, ticket booths and travel guides, but city officials want to pack a bigger punch outside of Osceola County.

Brazilian tourists continue to flood central Florida, mostly in part to the bargains. Now, the company hired to promote Osceola County, Experience Kissimmee, wants to promote directly in Brazil.

"It is the strongest, it has a strong middle class," said Tracy Ward of Experience Kissimmee.

The goal is to hire an outside sales that has a presence in Brazil.  Ward said they've built marketing strategies around Latin America in the past but not like the one they're about to embark on.

"We want someone who is Brazil-focused and has their home office in Brazil," said Ward.

Ward said more than 128,000 tourists already come to Osceola County each year from Brazil. The company is now accepting proposals from marketing firms with the hope the right team can multiple that number.

The Osceola agency spends about $600,000 each year to advertise in Brazil.

But Broom found Brazil falls behind Canada and the United Kingdom for the number international visitors, but that could change. In 2011 alone, the number of Brazilian visitors coming to central Florida from Brazil shot up by 50 percent.

Ward didn't have exact numbers but said Brazilian tourists they bring with them hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

Experience Kissimmee hasn't said what the proposal deadline will be. Officials said they also plan to expand the Experience Kissimee's reach into Chile and Puerto Rico.