Business Tourism Booms in Fortaleza and Salvador, Boosting Local Economies in 2025
Fortaleza and Salvador see significant hotel and economic gains from expanding business tourism and event-driven visitor influx in 2025.
- • Fortaleza's event tourism tripled over two years, generating R$ 975 million in 2024.
- • Hotel occupancy during holiday season reaches 80% in Fortaleza, contributing R$ 6 billion yearly.
- • Salvador's hotel occupancy was 65.64% in September 2025, with an 11.3% increase in average daily rates.
- • Promotional efforts like Road Show Salvador help maintain business tourism flow outside peak seasons.
Key details
In 2025, Brazilian cities Fortaleza and Salvador have experienced notable growth in business tourism, significantly impacting their local economies and hotel sectors.
Fortaleza's event tourism has tripled over the past two years. In 2024 alone, event participants generated R$ 975 million for the local economy, up from R$ 347 million in 2022. This surge has contributed to job creation and benefited hospitality, transport, gastronomy, and cultural sectors. According to Denise Carrá, Fortaleza’s Secretary of Tourism, business tourism peaks between August and November, with hotel occupancy reaching around 80% during the holiday season. Over half of the visitors earn between four and twenty minimum wages, indicating an affluent, quality-seeking clientele. Many visitors extend their stays beyond the three-day average event duration to enjoy local attractions, contributing to R$ 6 billion in tourism revenue annually.
In Salvador, hotel occupancy in September 2025 averaged 65.64%, slightly down from 67.52% the previous year. However, the average daily room rate rose by 11.3% to R$ 655.00, and Revenue Per Available Room (RevPar) increased by 8.3% to R$ 429.92. Peak occupancy reached nearly 80% during major business and cultural events mid-month, underscoring the vital role of events in maintaining tourist flow outside high seasons. Wilson Spagnol, President of ABIH-BA, underscored the importance of promotional initiatives like the Road Show Salvador, aimed at sustaining tourism by training travel agents to boost visitor numbers into the year-end and summer months.
Both cities are leveraging business tourism as a key economic driver, focusing on attracting higher-income visitors and enriching visitor experiences to foster longer stays and local economic growth.