I am delighted to welcome you to the 9th Global Travel & Tourism Summit, which was organised by WTTC for the first time in South America – in Florianópolis, the capital of the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. Given the terrible natural disaster that hit Santa Catarina in late-2008, due to heavy rains and flooding, we were more than ever committed to making a huge success of the Global Travel & Tourism Summit, which took place from 15-16 May 2009. We firmly believe that our first major venture in one of the world's most promising future growth economies – one of the BRICs, to quote Goldman Sachs – has put Santa Catarina and its capital Florianópolis on the world tourism map, both from the point of its international tourism potential and its potential for foreign investment.