Brazil will be on the world stage as it gears up for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Tens of thousands of visitors will stream into the country, giving Brazil the chance to showcase its natural wonders, manmade attractions and beautiful beaches. In fact, the country just had a dress rehearsal of sorts with the completion of the Confederations Cup in June.

Travelers – and enterprise security executives – often underestimate the sheer size of and scope of the country if they have never been there. In reality, Brazil is a huge country – more than 3.2 million square miles and nearly 194 million people. Foreigners are often surprised that a place like Fortaleza in the northeast is actually a four-hour flight to Rio. As the world’s fifth largest country and sixth largest economy by GDP, Brazil saw more than 525,000 international travelers last year and was the ninth highest destination for foreign visitors. Brazil is also the number 10 expatriate destination, according to International SOS data.