São Paulo – Hotels in the city of São Paulo want to cater better to guests from Arab countries, and for such they will count on help from the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce. The organization is going to promote four lectures, from April to July this year, for hotel and tourism sector workers.
"The objective is to address the Arab habits and customs, and to provide guidelines on how to receive Arab tourists in São Paulo," says Elias Hadi, the commercial secretary of the Arab Brazilian Chamber.
The employees who will be trained are going to be from companies affiliated with the São Paulo Convention & Visitors Bureau (SPCVB), a foundation maintained by private enterprises that aims to broaden the business volume and consumer market in the city of São Paulo by means of tourism. The SPCVB has over 150 affiliated hotels.
The lectures, says Hadi, are particularly geared towards employees who work at hotel receptions and those who work in travel agencies. Each lecture should be attended by approximately 80 participants.
According to the secretary, the Arab Brazilian Chamber was contacted by the SPCVB in order to clarify doubts regarding the habits of Arab and Muslim culture, such as the types of beverage that may be available in the rooms, meats that may be served, and how to behave towards women, for instance.
Keila Moreira, the relations manager of the SPCVB, claims that the organization decided to seek the Arab Brazilian Chamber because it believes that the inflow of Arab tourists into Brazil may increase. According to her, the intention is to raise the awareness of the hotel industry, especially the services sector, of how to welcome the Arab public. "The Chamber has expertise on the matter, and [therefore] we want to join it," said Keila.
Tourism in São Paulo
According to data supplied by the SPCVB, in 2008 alone, the city of São Paulo received 11 million visitors, 8.1% of which were foreigners. Out of these, 24.6% were from South America, mostly from Argentina and Chile; 23.7% came from North America, mostly the United States and Canada, and 23.1% were from Europe, mainly Germany, France and Italy.
Presently, São Paulo has 410 hotels and 42,000 apartments available. What is more, the city boasts a huge variety of leisure options: 260 halls in 55 cinemas, 110 museums, 160 theatres, 40 cultural centres, 90 libraries, 41 heritage areas, 80 shopping centres, 54 parks and green areas, 5 tourist service centres, 7 music venues (with more than 300 seats) 7 football stadiums, and one race track.
The average length of stay of foreign tourists visiting the city is 5.5 days, and average spending during that period is 2,165.34 Brazilian reals (US$ 1,200).
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
