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🧳 Brazil’s big bet on business tourism
After decades of selling itself as a land of sun, sand and sensuality, Brazil is now working to rebrand as a reliable hub for business travel
Isabela Cruz
May 04, 2025 • Reading Time: 2 minutes
Web Summit highlights Brazil’s business travel boost
Web Summit will be hosted in Rio until 2030. Photo: WSR
As the third edition of Web Summit wrapped up in Rio de Janeiro, it confirmed what many in the industry already suspected: Brazil is no longer just a postcard-perfect leisure destination — it is carving out a powerful place on the global map of business tourism.
This year’s Web Summit drew over 30,000 attendees, nearly 1,400 startups and 660 investors — numbers up roughly 30% from last year. Even before the event kicked off, City Hall estimated it would inject around BRL 170 million (USD 29.8 million) into the local economy, with the hotel sector set to be one of the main winners. Five more editions are already locked in through 2030, despite São Paulo’s efforts to lure the event to its turf.
The scale of corporate tourism goes well beyond Web Summit. Rio has a packed annual calendar of major events (averaging nearly one a day), with business-related meetings including Rio Innovation Week, the LatAm Content Meeting, documentary fair Latin Side of the Doc and the aviation-focused Routes Americas.
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