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ECONOMY
Business tourism represents 40% of visitors to Salvador in the low season
Salvador Convention Center expects to receive 30 thousand people in November alone
Published on October 25, 2024 at 05:15
41% of business tourists have higher education Credit: Archive/CORREIO
It’s proven: those who come to Salvador to participate in fairs and conferences spend up to three times more than leisure tourists. In the low season, when travelers are not yet on vacation, business tourism supports the segment in the capital of Bahia, representing 40% of visitors. Therefore, it is not surprising that the sector is interested in expanding the capacity for events of this type in the city. In November alone, the Salvador Convention Center (CCS) expects to receive 30,000 visitors to Boca do Rio.
Since it was closed until it partially collapsed in 2016, the Bahia Convention Center (CCB), in Stiep, left profound marks on Salvador’s business tourism. The equipment was involved in a legal dispute involving former State Government employees and was abandoned. Without it, which hosted the 12th edition of the United Nations (UN) Congress, the capital of Bahia was left without spaces for events.
“The loss of the Bahia Convention Center, a few years ago, caused serious problems for the hotel industry. At this time, in the recovery after the pandemic, business at the new center has been very important”, analyzes Wilson Spagnol, president of the Brazilian Industry Association of Hotels Bahia Section (Abih-BA). In June, the Court canceled CCB’s attachment.
The scenario began to change with the inauguration of the new convention center, in Boca do Rio, in January 2020. Since then, the equipment has hosted 370 events, attended by around 900 thousand people. “We can say that, after five years, we have completed a cycle that launched the Salvador destination on the national market. We managed to place Salvador within the route of major national events and congresses”, analyzes Ludovic Moulin, general director of the Salvador Convention Center.
Among the events scheduled to take place in November at the facility is the Brazilian Digestive System Week, considered the second largest event in the world in the specialty, between the 21st and 24th. “We have the capacity to host congresses of up to 10 thousand people. In the case of events of this type, the number of people is fixed. At fairs, visitors come and go”, explains the director. The Book Biennial, held between April 26th and May 1st this year, brought together more than 100 thousand people.
For Salvador’s Secretary of Culture and Tourism, Pedro Tourinho, business tourism helps explain the good performance of hotel occupancy, which reached 67.52% last month. “Business tourism is an important element in achieving the results we are having. This year, month by month, we beat record hotel occupancy in the low seasonuntil breaking the record for the month of September”, he assesses. The hotel occupancy rate was only below that recorded in January, which was 71.75%.
The performance is also celebrated by Silvio Pessoa, president of the Bahian Federation of Tourism and Hospitality (Fetur). “Business tourism represents 40% of tourist traffic in the low season. The city council’s idea of building a new convention center is excellent for serving the hotels in the city center”, he says. The municipal management plans to build another piece of equipment in the Historic Center, as revealed by Mayor Bruno Reis during a hearing held by CORREIO.
Business tourist profile
The profile of visitors who come to Salvador to participate in congresses and business fairs is mostly made up of men (64%), who have higher education (41%). The data are from the Secretariat of Culture and Tourism of Salvador (Secult). The main occupation of 44% of them is the private sector, followed by the public sector (16%) and the informal market (15%). Income varies between three and 10 minimum wages for 30% of them.
Wilson Spagnol, president of the Brazilian Hotel Industry Association, explains that business tourists also take advantage of their trips to visit the city. “Event tourists look for places that have good equipment and a social atmosphere. They tend to have greater purchasing power and we can predict hotel occupancy in the low season”, he says. According to Secult, 49.19% of business tourists stay in hotels and 46.5% of them spend up to two nights in Salvador.
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