By GISELA SALOMON
By GISELA SALOMON
Associated Press
RIO DE JANEIRO — The overstuffed bags filling Fernando Mello’s luggage cart wobbled precariously as the gym owner made his way home one morning through Rio’s international airport. Navigating the terminal, Mello was part of a horde of other Brazilian travelers returning with loot found in the strip malls and discount outlets of southern Florida.
Mello’s girlfriend’s freshly purchased Michael Kors handbag in gold lame sat atop four bulging suitcases like a shining crown — a testament to the newfound consumer power of Brazilian travelers, who now spend more per capita than any other visitors to the U.S.
In fact, Brazilians are spending so much that flights with Brazil’s top airline TAM originating in the U.S. have had to carry more fuel to accommodate the dramatically overweight baggage.
“We left with nothing, just a piece of hand luggage,” said the 30-year-old Mello. “We go to the U.S. once a year, stay in great hotels, have a fantastic holiday and shop till we drop and it’s still cheaper than shopping in Brazil. It’s a no-brainer.”
According to the latest statistics, Brazilians spent $5.9 billion in the U.S. in 2010 in a tsunami of cash that’s shifting American immigration practices and boosting economies in hard-hit parts of the U.S. that remain in the doldrums.