From the Newsroom*
São Paulo – The Tax on Services (ISS) collected by the São Paulo City Hall on tourism between January and August exceeds collection in the whole of 2004. The figures were supplied by the City Information Technology and Communications Company (Prodam).
The value of the tourism tax – collected on hotel stays, tourist packages and events – was 17% greater than in the same period in 2006. This value, however, does not yet include transportation, restaurants, bars and purchases.
"The good results shows what we had already been identifying in quantitative and behaviour studies – the fact that the city is evolving as a tourist destination not only for business and events, sectors already consolidated, but also as a cultural and entertainment reference," stated Caio Luiz de Carvalho, president at São Paulo Turismo (SP Turis), a tourism promotion and event organisation company belonging to the city.
In the first nine months of this year, the hotel room occupation rate was close to 70%, according to an SPTuris study of 100 hotels in the capital. "Our 46,000 apartments are occupied most of the time, with greater occupation rates during the week, but already exceeding 50% on weekends," explained the SPTuris president.
*Translated by Mark Ament