Tourism do Rio targets agro and travelers from the Midwest – 07/23/2023 – Market

Flags of football teams from the Midwest region flutter at Jonildo Viegas da Silva’s tent, 54, on Ipanema beach, in the south zone of Rio de Janeiro.

Decoration is associated with the customer’s profile, not with the seller’s club preference. According to Jonildo, better known as Nildo, most of the tourists who buy drinks or snacks and rent chairs at the tent are from the Midwest.

Thus, the flags of Goiás, Atlético-GO, Vila Nova and Cuiabá act as a decoy for the public in the region. “More and more tourists come from there”, says the seller, who was born in Paraíba and has worked at the stall in Ipanema for 33 years.

He’s not alone in having that impression of Midwestern travelers. Representatives of hotels in Rio say that tourists from the region have gained market share in Rio since the pandemic.

One of the possible reasons for this is the performance of agribusiness, which drives the economy of the Midwest. The sector stood out during the health crisis and, in 2023, it is stimulated by the projections for a record harvest in Brazil.

With an eye on this scenario, the hotel industry in Rio considers that there is potential for growth in the region’s market and intends to direct marketing actions to keep it warm after the pandemic.

“As a customer comes here, the hotel starts to send advertising there”, says Alfredo Lopes, president of HotéisRIO (Union of Accommodation Means of the Municipality of Rio de Janeiro). “It’s great to have this audience here. They have resources,” he adds.

According to Lopes, the hotels have been betting on actions together with the state government to publicize tourism in Rio in different regions of the country, including the Midwest.

“What we’re looking for now is to attract agro events to Rio, which doesn’t have much of this characteristic. We’re talking to the state government”, he says.

“Let’s suppose we held a big tractor fair. People come here, see the tractors and walk around Rio. The tractor is the same here or there. There is this idea, without a doubt, to attract agro people”, he adds.

According to HotéisRIO, the states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais are the main origins of national travelers who land in the capital of Rio de Janeiro, even with the growing demand from the Midwest registered in part of the sector.

Fernando Blower, president of SindRio (Union of Bars and Restaurants of the Municipality of Rio de Janeiro), recalls that the pandemic made international travel difficult and expensive.

The reflex, according to him, was the demand for shorter journeys within the country. This situation, he says, has favored the arrival of tourists from regions such as the Midwest in recent years in the Rio de Janeiro capital.

“The dynamics of tourism has a lot to do with purchasing power. As we have a significant number of people in the Midwest with good purchasing power, it is natural for them to seek Rio to spend a weekend or a few days. We have seen this frequently”, says Blower.

With the impact of the harvest, economic activity is expected to grow 5.08% in the Midwest in 2023, points out projections by the consultancy MB Associados. The rate exceeds the advance expected by the MB in regions less influenced by the countryside, such as the Southeast (1.18%).

“Economic growth makes the public there [Centro-Oeste] travel more. It is natural that this happens, that there are more people traveling, due to the increase in income”, says the state secretary of Tourism of Rio de Janeiro, Gustavo Tutuca.

“Our hope is that [o fluxo] increase because of the actions that we are going to do. Rio is the biggest tourist destination in the country, but it has great competition. We try to maintain our promotional actions to have a high flow here”, she adds.

Before the pandemic, tourists from the Midwest —disregarding the Federal District— accounted for a “residual” slice, close to 1%, of the Arena hotel chain’s total turnover in Rio, says José Domingo Bouzón, the company’s general director.

Currently, participation is higher, in the range of 5% to 8%, according to the businessman. The chain operates four hotels in the Rio de Janeiro capital. For Bouzón, the gain in participation of travelers from the Midwest is associated with a “sum of factors”.

“They have purchasing power, and we are publicizing our product”, he says.

Tiago Sagás, sales and distribution manager for bUP Hotels, also sees greater demand from customers in the Midwest.

According to him, the region now accounts for around 20% of the national bUP market in Rio —before, the percentage was around 12%. The company operates 11 hotels in the municipality.

For the manager, one of the possible factors behind the picture is the performance of agribusiness. “Once the sector is growing, people are more willing to travel. We believe in that”, he says.

Sagás says that bUP intends to continue with publicity actions aimed at regions such as the Midwest, which includes events with travel agencies and tour operators, in addition to digital boosting.