April 2023, Brazil — the leading sustainable tourist-residential enterprise being developed in Maricá, on Rio de Janeiro’s Sun Coast, and members of EHL Group met on 6th March 2023 to advance the development of the institution’s first collaboration in South America.
EHL was founded in 1893 as the world’s first hotel management school. Close to 130 years later, it has become an international education group with around 4 000 students, 3 campuses in Switzerland and Singapore, 30,000 alumni and educational programs ranging from apprenticeships to master's degrees, as well as professional short courses and executive education. Its unique pedagogical approach based on the Swiss experiential learning and its pioneer spirit inspire many institutions, governments and businesses around the world which use EHL’s consultancy services to raise their standards of excellence.
At the meeting, participants discussed how important creating a new Hospitality Academy, located in MARAEY, will be for the education sector in the state and its economic impact on the region. In addition to the agreement with the sustainable tourist and residential complex, the executives also confirmed unconditional support from the Rio de Janeiro State Government. Currently, the 2022 QS World University Rankings for Hospitality & Leisure Management lacks any representative from Latin America among the first 80 best universities worldwide, adding relevance to the project.
This is a first step towards entering the EHL Network of Certified Schools for the Hospitality Academy in MARAEY, a quality assurance framework addressing the needs of hospitality and tourism education institutions to continuously improve their educational provision and internal organization. The Scheme is intended as a journey towards quality improvement with the ultimate objective to support excellence in hospitality education with the seal of EHL. Currently, only seven institutions obtained the ‘Certified Level’ from EHL Group in the world and another four are in the process of certification.
MARAEY’s CEO Emilio Izquierdo celebrated the importance of the agreement. “Establishing the standards and criteria of excellence of EHL in MARAEY will contribute decisively to Rio de Janeiro state and to Brazil reaching an unprecedented level of quality in hospitality services, expanding its importance as a required sustainable tourist destination for the world. We, together with the State Government and EHL, are committed to the beautiful challenge of potentializing, via a professional view of excellency for the sector, one of the most beautiful places on the planet,” says the executive.
MARAEY will create an enormous demand for qualified tourist and service professionals with the opening of three five-star hotels from the Marriott International chain and one Convention Center. The institution will be there also to meet that demand.
The hotel complex, which will be built only 45 km from the city of Rio de Janeiro, will include the arrival of the Ritz-Carlton Reserve brand in Brazil and South America; the JW Marriott, one of the brand’s first all-inclusive resorts in the world; in addition to the innovative Rock in Rio, Autograph Collection, the first thematic hotel with the brand of the festival that attracts thousands of fans to each of its editions. The hotels will have over 1,100 rooms, generate more than 16,000 direct and indirect jobs during the construction phase, and have over 3,500 direct positions during its operation. The hotels will catalyze the state’s and Brazil’s economic and tourist development, attracting over 300,000 direct and 150,000 indirect tourists each year.
In addition to the hotels mentioned above, MARAEY will have a hotel designed to be the most iconic beachfront convention resort in Brazil (its brand will be announced in the future), residential units connected to the brands, a shopping center, hospital, schools, several sports centers and cultural venues.
About MARAEY
Conceived by IDB Brazil, MARAEY is the country's most innovative and sustainable tourist-residential project. It is being developed in Maricá, on the Sun Coast. Its fundamental assets are protecting the environment, investing in academic research with the participation of some of the most important institutions in the country, and recognizing the local community, in addition to economic development.
Buildings will occupy only 6.6% of its land. Inside the project’s 840 hectares, we will create the second-largest Restinga Natural Heritage Private Reserve (RPPN in Portuguese) in Rio de Janeiro state and the fifth-largest in Brazil. MARAEY is a signatory of the UN’s Global Compact and has already received internationally-recognized awards, such as the 2021 Leadership Award for Latin America, granted by the .S. Green Building Council, the 2022 Americas Property Awards in the five-star category for best mixed-use project in Brazil and the Americas, the BIOSPHERE Seal as the first private Sustainable Tourist Destination in the world, in addition to the Sustainable SITES Initiative GOLD and Geo Foundation for Sustainable Golf pre-certifications.
Based on Responsible Investment principles – ESG, the private investment will total $2.1 billion, with tax revenues of $1.3 billion and the generation of over 56,000 jobs in the first 14 years (construction and sales consolidation), and an additional $191 million in annual operations, with 36,000 jobs when MARAEY is fully operational.
In addition to the Marriott chain and Rock in Rio, leading world brands such as BMW, SegurPro, MAPFRE, and Siemens follow MARAEY’S development. We also have support from the family of the beloved Brazilian tennis player Maria Esther Bueno. In addition to the hotels and the university, which have already positioned MARAEY as one of the most sustainable and bold tourist destinations in the world, MARAEY will also become the new residential standard in Brazil, with more than 8,000 new, high-luxury homes and state-of-the-art services such as a hospital, an international school, a shopping center, an 18-hole golf course, and an international equestrian center.