Workforce Language Services

The hospitality industry and businesses in São Paulo, Brazil seek to attract more leisure tourists.  An integral part of the effort to increase the city’s appeal to foreign visitors is understanding and overcoming deterrent language and cultural barriers.

Everything is superlative in São Paulo, from the size of the city to the volume of tourists who arrive here every year - 7.5 million, according to São Paulo Tourism, an organization of the municipal government. And the figures go on: there are 12,500 restaurants, 550 hotels, 280 cinemas, 71 museums, 120 theatres, 72 shopping centers, 34 parks, among other attractions.

But being a grayish city, made of concrete, with few natural gifts, São Paulo does not have a tradition in leisure tourism, only business. In recent years, though, the city started changing its features, and proving that it can also be a cultural, hyped up metropolis.

Combined with that process, there is an ongoing effort of the São Paulo city hall aimed at constantly improving the reception of business tourists, and at showing them the city that lies outside the office, far beyond Paulista avenue, the main business district. To that extent, a lot has been taking place - from taxi drivers taking English lessons to better cater to tourists, to partnerships between hotels, theaters, and cinemas to offer discounts on fees.