Bolsonarista persecution of STF ministers worries event sector in Serra Gaúcha

The cancellation of the presence of three ministers of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) at events held this month in the Serra Gaúcha lit up a warning signal in the market for congresses and corporate events.

With the potential to move more than BRL 400 million a year in Gramado and Canela alone, the sector fears that attacks by the Bolsonaro government on the court will delay the recovery of the sector, which in the last two decades has invested to strengthen corporate tourism.

Congresses linked to the law, say professionals in the field of event capture, have been affected by animosities between ministers of the Supreme Court and President Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

On June 3, pressure from local Bolsonarista businessmen on entities of the CIC (Centre for Industry, Commerce and Services) in Bento Gonçalves meant that a lecture with the president of the STF, Luiz Fux, was first transferred to a more restricted location in the city ​​for security reasons.

Then the minister preferred to cancel the trip.

Last week, the focus of the protests was Gramado. With the help of Bolsonaro parliamentarians, there was mobilization on social networks against the presence of ministers Cármen Lúcia and Dias Toffoli at legal events in the region.

Around the city, green and yellow stickers asked the ministers to be “uninvited”. Both replaced their in-person participations with online talks —Carmen, at the 12th Mercosur Congress on Family and Inheritance Law; Toffoli, at the International Law Day.

The result was once again celebrated by Bolsonarist politicians and lamented by tourism authorities.

“These are actions that directly harm the sector that is taking the longest to return to normal since the Covid pandemic. No matter how politicized and polarized our country is, it would be very important for these people to rethink their behavior”, says Rosa Helena Volk, secretary. of Tourism in Gramado.

At the end of the 1990s, representatives of the private sector from the municipalities of Rio Grande do Sul in the Region of Hortências –Gramado, Canela, Nova Petrópolis, Picada Café and São Francisco de Paula– set up an agency to promote corporate events, called a bureau, to strengthen the business tourism in a region already recognized for leisure tourism.

“In addition to guaranteeing hotel occupancy in low season, business tourists have an average ticket 30% higher than leisure travelers. As they usually have some expenses paid by the company, they allow themselves to spend more in the city on stores, restaurants, get togethers. The city wins twice: the company and the guest”, explains Enzo Arns, president of the bureau.

According to a survey by the bureau, the best year for holding events in the last decade was 2018, when Gramado and Canela hosted 532 corporate events with 230,000 participants. Taking into account the average ticket at the time, of R$580, and the average length of stay of three days, they brought about R$400 million to the local economy.

With the pandemic, the number of events dropped from 438 in 2019 to 60 in 2020. In 2021, with the post-vaccination resumption, there were 161 events with 43,128 participants. Taking into account the average ticket updated by R$800 and the average length of stay, R$103.5 million was collected.

Among corporate events, congresses related to law and medicine are among the most popular. The International Law Day, for example, which was supposed to host Toffoli, usually gathers between 800 and 1200 participants, with tickets ranging between R$250 and R$600. de Gramado, and earns around R$ 500 thousand just in tickets.

Regarding recent episodes of boycott of STF ministers, Arns says that “political and ideological positions should not be mixed with business”.

“I can’t say that this was a determining point in the specific episodes, but if an organizer is susceptible to the wishes of his sponsors, he is not doing a healthy event. The main interest has to be that of the public”, he declares.

The businessman sees the episodes as isolated cases, still insufficient to scratch the city’s image, but he fears that they point to a trend.

Like the cities in the Region of Hortênsias, Bento Gonçalves is another municipality that has been expanding its image as a center for gastronomic tourism and industrial fairs for corporate events.

According to the tourism department, 32% of visitors to the city have already visited for the second time, an indication that those who come on business tend to return later for leisure — the city has invested in the construction of spaces for events in hotels and even in wineries. . Before being cancelled, Fux’s lecture would be held at the Spa do Vinho event center.

When commenting on the episode of cancellation of the presence of Minister Fux, the secretary of tourism, Rodrigo Parisotto, regretted that people who had no relationship with the event had “screamed louder”.

“In 2010 we had Grêmio and Inter holding pre-seasons in Bento Gonçalves. Then, because of the fights between the fans, one team stayed here and the other in a neighboring city. Today, neither of them over the mountains at the beginning. I hope that this fight over politics doesn’t bring the same end to the city.