Exploring domestic tourism in Brazil

From July 1 to September 30th, 2014 Dr. Ulrich Gunter, Assistant Professor at the Department of Tourism and Service Management, stayed as a visiting researcher at the Escola de Artes, Ciências e Humanidades (EACH) of the University of Sao Paulo (USP) at its campus USP Leste, located in the east of this vast Brazilian metropolis.

Sao Paulo, with almost 12 million inhabitants, is not only the largest city in Brazil and its cultural, educational and economic center, but also one of the largest cities in the Americas. And in huge cities there are correspondingly large universities - with almost 90,000 students, USP is the largest and most prestigious university in Brazil and one of the largest in Latin America, and is renowned worldwide for its excellence in research and teaching.

While at USP, Ulrich collaborated with Prof. Dr. Alexandre Panosso Netto on quantifying the impact of key determinants of international tourism demand to and from Brazil, i.e. real tourism imports and real tourism exports, respectively. With the help single-equation error correction modeling, it was possible to estimate price and income elasticties for both the short and the long run and to distinguish a pre-2003 and post-2003 period, where outbound and inbound tourism demand evolved differently.

Apart from research, Ulrich dived into teaching and the faculty life at USP-  he delivered a talk to master students, participated in faculty meetings, and also met in person with other faculty members to share ideas and experiences.

It wasn’t just researching that kept Ulrich busy during his stay; ‘’All in all, USP, Sao Paulo as a city, and Brazil as a country were very hospitable. Even though without direct access to the beach, there are lots of things to see and do there, both “regular” and “alternative” events, sights, museums, theaters, music clubs, cafés, bars, clubs, interesting neighborhoods, street art, markets, shops, sports and more.’’ 

Due to the fruitful exchange of ideas and research, a future collaboration between Ulrich and colleagues at the University of Sao Paulo is very likely concerning domestic tourism in Brazil.