Business Tourism: Fairs and Events in Santa Catarina

Interview with Eugênio David Cordeiro Neto, President of Florianópolis and Region Convention & Visitors Bureau

Historically, tourism in the city of Florianópolis is limited to the summer months.

Yes, and that is decreasing. People no longer have 30 days vacation periods. So it is hyper crowded from December 26th, 27th, to January 10th, 15th. And then the same thing happens in Carnaval.

Our challenge, and the legacy we hope to leave, is to break seasonality. We have to distribute visitors throughout the entire year. We need to focus especially on the weakest months. We have to work really hard to achieve this from March through November, because from December to February, we already have a spontaneous mobilization. People are already coming here on their own initiative.

About that, you are the Convention Bureau, are you not also involved in the organization of Carnaval?

Well, we create a space for tourists in Carnaval and we privilege foreign tourists, who are the people who come from abroad to get to know our Carnaval, which is not like the one in Rio de Janeiro. It’s a bit smaller but it shows a little more of the Brazilian culture, and we have a lot of European tourists that are interested in this.

Ok, but do you also have a part in the organization of the festivities?

No, we are not actually involved in that kind of work.

What are the Convention Bureau’s great challenges?

We need to increase our facilities so we can hold more events. For example, a factor that was already discussed was the capacity of our convention center. It is currently sufficient for the events that we attract. But in order for us to grow we’re going to need a bigger one, with higher capacity. This will cause a significant impact in the city’s infrastructure. So this is a great challenge. To enhance our structural capacity, in order to widen our market.

There is the matter of adapting the size of the event to the size of the city. Our main chokepoint at the moment is the airport. Our airport is very limited, it is very small. We have been trying for years to have the airport expanded. If there is a 4000 people event in the city, there will be a choke point at the airport. There is no way to get all these people through that airport, so this is one of our problems with infrastructure. Regarding large events, in Brazil there are currently about 10 to 15 events that involve over 7000 people. There is the Brazilian cardiology congress, with 7000 doctors, the Brazilian orthopedics congress, 6000 doctors… So, there are a few events that require better infrastructures. But still, these are the mega-events that we miss out on, due to that problem. Even if we could fit these mega-events in the convention center, there aren’t enough hotel rooms to accommodate all these people, because they already have their normal occupancy, with the regular flow of tourists coming here. So what we are doing at the moment is building a new convention center in the north of the island, so that we can distribute the people attending events; we will occupy the northern region with 4000 to 5000 people there, and we need to organize another one, for the same number of people, here as well; this is something that has already happened, with the Brazilian Chamber of Commerce convention, which is a huge event, the biggest that we have had here, involving about 5000 people.

So this is the direction we have to follow, because it is not just about the convention center and hotel capacity, there is also the restaurant sector, activities for people to do, all of this needs to be taken into consideration. The Convention Bureau’s slogan is “Inspire Your Senses”. So we want people to get a good impression and a good feeling from the moment they arrive at the airport, when they get to the hotel, at the convention center, when they go to have dinner, etc. So, imagine this city receiving 7000 people; people would have to stand in lines at restaurants for an hour and a half to have dinner, because there would be no way to respond to such a demand. We live in a city that has 400.000 inhabitants, it is very small. Nevertheless, we are the city in Brazil that hosts the largest number of international events. So we are already a reference. If you make a per-capita comparison, we are only behind São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Salvador, and at a tie with Brasilia. So we are doing well, because our city is much smaller, we believe we are doing a good job.

Regarding infrastructure, we currently have a well-equipped convention center. We have new, well maintained equipment, supplied by private initiatives; we have made considerable investments on things like new floorings, an adequate air-conditioning system, good internet and internal network infrastructures, etc. We have realized that conventions are a great source of income, and the city is working towards that goal. The Convention Bureau’s role is to channel these events, these business tourists into our cities, because the more business we attract, the better it will be for the entire tourism sector.

It is not worth it to have only one event for 7000 people, it is better to have one for 3000 people here, another for 2000 there, 500 more here, 1000 more there, we try to make a distribution, to achieve higher efficiency. Besides, we do not want to support the business of only one associate, we want to be able to support the entire trade; here at the Convention Bureau, we have over 150 members. So we have some hard work ahead of us.

Are you trying to attract investments that will create that kind of infrastructure in Florianópolis, and in the region?

Well, Florianópolis is currently the flavor of the month in terms of tourism, and in other aspects, such as quality of life, in which it is one of the best in the country, and also concerning public safety – our city is still very peaceful. There are a few problems, of course, but generally speaking it is quite safe. For instance, if you are staying at a beachfront hotel, at night you can safely go out and take a walk by the ocean. If you are in São Paulo, for instance, you will not have much to do, you will have to stay inside a restaurant or a shopping mall, you don’t have many options – you really should not take a walk in the park at night in São Paulo, because you will most likely get mugged. So this is another one of the benefits that we can offer.

There is already a natural trend for investment, people are already coming here. About ten years ago, the hotel business was composed mainly of family businesses. Nowadays, we have a series of international hotel chains. We have Accor, Slaviero, a big hotel from Campinas is considering building a facility here; there is a project being developed for Ponta do Coral, to build a very big hotel, which will integrate a huge space for events, similar to the one at Costão de Santinho, for instance. So this is something that we are working on quite intensively. We have a convention center in the south central region, which is the main convention center in the city; we have 8 convention centers in Florianópolis that are associated with the Convention Bureau. There is also the Santa Catarina Medical Association, who also supports this event-based tourism, and as they have a great proximity to the medical sector, it is possible to hold an event for 1500 people at their facilities. This is part of our goal to distribute this work throughout the entire region, and that is what made Florianópolis a leader in service providing. We have excellent companies providing all the necessary services, so there is no need to bring in service companies or suppliers from larger centers like São Paulo.

How do you go about attracting these conventions, fairs, etc.? What are your preferred methods, and what sets you apart from other bureaus?

Well, we have two people dedicated to looking for events, we analyze the national calendar of events taking place here in Florianópolis and in Brazil, and we try to exchange information with other convention bureaus; it is common for an event that was held in the South of Brazil to go to the Southwestern or Northeastern region; Brazil is a continental country, a very large place, so events are thus distributed, one time it can be here, next time it will be somewhere else. They can be held annually or every two years, and sometimes they need to go to a different region. So we have a good relationship with other convention bureaus, which translates into a very efficient event attraction system.

We will go to a city where a certain event is being held and present the city of Florianópolis and its attributes, it’s strong points, such as the ones I mentioned before – infrastructure, safety, quality of life, the exuberant natural beauty, which is already well known – We call it Florianópolis, but people from other places have affectionately nicknamed it “Floripa”; so there is a special fondness towards our city, and a spontaneous interest in coming here. According to a recent study, events held in Florianópolis are 15% to 20% bigger. The same event that takes place in São Paulo will have a higher number of people if it moves to Florianópolis, mainly due to the following: usually, people will try to stay a few days extra, and if possible – we see this a lot in medical congresses – the attendees will bring their spouse, which will practically double the number of participants in a convention.

We also have a tradition to advertise events in surrounding cities, because our state is quite different from the others. First of all, the state capital is not the largest city in the state – the largest city is Joinville – and also, there is the matter of our privileged location – you can visit a mountain range only two hours away; you go south and you have whale watching in Garopaba, even Florianópolis had whales this year; you can go north to São Francisco do Sul, which is the second oldest town in Brazil, Vale do Itajaí, in Blumenau, you can find different cultures, lots of attractions; so, for instance, while the Congress is in session, the participants’ spouses will have something to do in the meantime. This will also benefit the tourism for our city and our region. Camboriú is also very representative of this, people are curious to get to know it. So we are in a very good position.

Florianópolis is best known for a high density of companies related to administrative services, IT and technology; do you think it lacks other types of business, like we see in Joinville, for instance, which is more industrial?

Actually, the largest share of the city’s GDP is technology. The second largest is tourism. What happens here is that industries are establishing themselves outside the city, due to laws that limit the establishment of industries in the island, to protect our natural beauties and our quality of life. So there are other cities currently growing in the industrial economic sector, which are the surrounding municipalities, like Biguaçu, Palhoça and São José. These cities are also within the scope of the Convention Bureau, as we currently represent 13 cities around Florianópolis, from Palhoça, in the south to Governador Celso Ramos, in the north. We carry out extensive work in this group of cities. For instance, the thermal springs in Santo Amaro da Imperatriz, are a very strong product that we can market very easily. We have excellent hotels in Palhoça and São José, and this is the kind of business that we have been supporting. In Palhoça alone, just so you get an idea, there are 17.000 companies. São José is even bigger, and Biguaçu is also growing in the industrial market.

How do you think Florianopolis is seen internationally? Is this an aspect that you are working on, or do you feel that the Brazilian market will be sufficient?

Actually, in our perspective, that is a market that needs to be developed. We are already the fourth biggest tourism destination in Brazil. We want to go further in this market. However, the Convention Bureau is a relatively new institution. It is only 10 years old. And we are just now beginning to gather the resources to participate in some international fairs. There is a big tourism fair being held in Germany. One of the goals in our plan is to participate in this fair. Maybe next year – we are still dependent on our members for funding, so there are still some limitations to our financial capacity, which limits our ability to go to such events. But we are convinced that it is a very important market. We are also trying to include ourselves in the ranking made by the International Congress and Convention Association. It is a classification of cities that hold the largest number of events all throughout the world.

We know that Brazil is currently under the world’s spotlight. We have two major events coming up, which are the Olympics and the World Cup. So the world has its eyes on us and I think this kind of visibility is very important. What we need to do, is do all we can to attract foreign tourists, who, when thinking of Brazil, immediately think of Rio de Janeiro – many people think it is the capital of Brazil, even though it’s not; so, what we need to do is gradually turn their attention to the southeastern region, which is more than São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and try to attract them here as well – we are 50 minutes away from São Paulo, about an hour and 10 minutes away from Rio, it is quite easy to get here. They will be coming to a safe, peaceful place, with high quality of life.

We are currently working on several different segments. There is the IGLTA, a congress held by the Gay, Lesbian and Sympathizers movement here in Florianópolis. We also cater to European tourists, who come here for other reasons. So, tourists don’t come only for the beach; on the contrary, we have realized that what they want is to be able to take walks in nature, for instance. And they don’t want to stay in a mega-resort; they want something smaller like a little hostel or a guest house, something more traditional and personal. So we are working on these goals, which will enable us to reach these markets and, ultimately, fulfill our mission, and our legacy, which is to break seasonality. To be able to have all kinds of tourists throughout the entire year.

Do you have a direct relationship with the hotel sector in which you are able to communicate these goals to them, and advise them on the ways to attain them?

The main group of associates of the Convention Bureau is the hotel industry and the convention center. It all starts in getting the event. From then on, business will increase for everyone. So we have a very strong approach with the hotel industry and the convention center, so that we can define the best strategy. For instance, when there is a 4000 people event here, that means increasing business for the entire south center hotel sector, and the entire associated production chain; one thing will have an impact on another. So we feel that being able to attract the event is crucial to attain our goals.

Could you to tell me a little bit about your projects for the future. What are your ambitions for the next 5 years?

Well, our primary goal at the moment is to get the airport expanded. We need adequate infrastructures to receive tourists coming here. We are well on our way to concluding the construction of our second Convention Center, which will be the first convention center on the northern part of the island. This will allow us to achieve some distribution, because there’s an idle hotel industry in the northern part of the island. These are mostly beach hotels and their busiest times are the same as the ones in the south. So we are hoping to achieve a better distribution of tourism throughout the other months of the year in that region as well.

Our strategy, and the work we do, will always follow the goal of getting more events to be held here. Our calendar is not full yet and the city has available capacity to accommodate more tourism. Besides, our work has to be done on a long term; it started 10 years ago, and we have to work today to get events for 2014 and 2015, so the fruits of our labor are not that visible, they are not instant.

What can you tell us about the state of the convention business 10 years ago and today? What has the Convention Bureau accomplished so far?

I believe creating the Convention Bureau to attract events was a great strategy to bring business into the city. People are already curious about visiting Florianopolis. And although many of the convention participants come here at the expense of their company, they get to know our city and our region, and maybe in the next summer they will consider bringing their family. In doing so, they are bringing business to Visitors, which is another branch of the Convention Bureau.

We live in an island with limited space. We should try to attract a better quality of tourists. We can’t fit a million people here. So what we have to do is make the most of our distinct tourism segments; we need to present all of our qualities to potential tourists, so they will have an idea of the better time for them to visit Florianópolis. Let me give you an example. The Easter holiday is a week-long in Uruguay. We had a phenomenal flow at that time this year. Many people came from Uruguay to spend the week here. The weather that week that was practically summer, great temperatures. So, these smaller niches and smaller seasons are growing. And we are trying to develop each sector more and more. Currently, we have a slow period from July to August, when there aren’t that many events. So we need to get some events for that period. February is our high season but we are having trouble getting a satisfactory occupancy rate, we also need to work on that. So we’ve been trying more and more to follow this line and create a good structure. But the convention bureau’s main focus is business tourists. It’s what brings business here. As I have previously mentioned, some hotels are having higher occupancy rates in October than in January, because January is ultimately getting limited to 10 to 15 days, and October has business the entire month. So we are getting very efficient in that line of work. This is crucial, because as I said hotels are the main sector to benefit, but there are others. Sectors that are associated with event organizing, like scenography companies, event equipment rental companies, travel agencies, etc. There are a number of sectors with which we work. Those are the engines of an entire chain.

It must be complicated to handle all these aspects.

Not really; once you can get a big event organized here, everything pretty much works itself out. There are rarely any problems. We actually have an average of 2, 3, 4 new associates every 15 days. These are people and entities that contact us on their own initiative, and want to become our members. We actually have to some triage of the applications, to filter our members a bit. There are some criteria that must be met; we feel this is important, if we want to have a quality member base. We try to limit membership to reputable and reliable people and entities, who can provide a satisfactory level of service for our tourists.