One of the main tourist destinations in Brazil, the region of Gramado and Canela, in Serra Gaúcha, faces the end of the year 2021 with the perspective of recovering the losses caused by the pandemic and breaking records of occupancy in its hotels.
The main event in the region at this time, Natal Luz already hosts events with the presence of the public and tickets are sold out in some paid events, according to the City Hall of Gramado.
Open on October 28th and with a schedule until January 30th, Natal Luz mixes a series of paid and free attractions, all with a Christmas theme.
Every day, the city has at least one show involving drama, dance and music. On Fridays and weekends, it hosts the Christmas Parade, a parade of artists on Avenida Borges de Medeiros, the city’s main avenue — check out the complete schedule here.
In 2020, the city was decorated and prepared for Christmas Light, but the event took place without traditional shows. For this year, almost all of them have already returned to the program, which also includes news.
At the opening of Christmas, the presence of the public was limited to a third of the capacity of the shows, but Scariot says that the investment in decoration and attractions was designed for 100% capacity.
In addition to the Christmas event, the region has a wide range of bars and restaurants, ranging from Italian and French cuisine to hamburgers, as well as a number of open-air museums and attractions.
One of the main ones is Parque do Caracol, a conservation unit in Canela, with viewpoints, waterfall and ecological trails.
For fans of the cold, the region offers Snowland, a sports theme park and snow presentations. In the Chocolate World, you can enjoy spices from the region, in addition to a number of other attractions.
In October, the requirement for a vaccination passport for access to parks and events in Gramado was approved. But on November 18, a state decree allowed vaccination to no longer be required for events in cities above 90% vaccination coverage. With 91.1% of adults vaccinated, the city adopted flexibility.
With the pandemic, the sector did not reach even half of the normal turnover during the Natal Luz 2020, according to the president of Sindtur (Union of Hotels, Restaurants, Bars, Parks, Museums and Similar in the Hortênsias Region), Mauro Salles.
Managing partner of Laghetto Hotels, which has 12 hotels in the region, Plínio Ghisleni says that the sector went into a “total panic” in March 2020. With the hotels closed for at least three months, the chain had to dismiss half of its employees and negotiate with creditors to support the non-revenue phase.
Ghisleni says that, later, it was realized that the impact could be managed, and the end of 2020 registered good sales, albeit below average. As of June, the sector began to see a strong recovery and already presents numbers above those registered before the pandemic.
The perspective for December is to reach 90% occupancy rate at Laghetto hotels in Gramado and Canela. “It brought two things together: it has an adequate audience and offers,” says Ghisleni.
The Laghetto chain was even able to resume expansion plans by inaugurating two new projects, which add up to nearly 500 new apartments.
According to figures from Sindtur, the occupancy rate in Gramado surpassed the average of 70% in November, with the same percentage already guaranteed for December.
Mauro Salles estimates an average occupancy above 80% in December, which would surpass the same month in 2019. “We also expect better sales than in 2019”, he says.
But it’s not just the big networks that have shown good results. Josué Meireles, general manager of the Hotel Pousada Kaster, imagined that, as it was a region of open-air parks and areas of natural beauty, Gramado was well positioned for the resumption.
However, he admits that he did not expect this resumption to be so fast. After the height of winter, September and October should be low season, but the inn has kept occupancy above 80%, even with a higher average ticket.
“The people embraced Gramado a lot and surpassed it a lot. We are very happy and a little surprised”, he says.
For Mateus Müller Leobet, owner of Pousada Tio Müller, the strong recovery is explained by a change in the profile of tourists.
With the borders to the outside closed, he says that Gramado started to receive a public with greater purchasing power. “Gramado has always been a very strong winter destination, but I think that, this year, it was the main destination for Brazilians”, he believes.
Owner of Castelo Saint Andrews, a hotel inspired by European castles and considered the only “mountain hotel” in Brazil, Guilherme Paulus says that luxury tourism had a sales boom in 2021, especially with the advance of vaccination against Covid-19 and the consequent drop in contagion rates.
Bookings already made guarantee that the hotel will have an occupancy rate close to 100% on Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
“People were looking for a refuge, a close and safe destination, both for leisure and for the home office”, he says.
To ensure a safe season, Castel Saint Andrews signed a partnership with the Sírio-Libanês hospital for the implementation and auditing of biosafety protocols.
“We invested in wide-ranging cleaning European machines and also implemented all the new procedures, from check-in to check-out, correct distance, use of alcohol gel, masks and total cleaning of our spaces”, says Paulus.
For tourists who will go to Gramado this end of the year, epidemiologist Lucia Pellanda recommends that they preferably seek outdoor activities and well-ventilated environments.
She says that the most alert situation is the possibility of crowding with unknown people, who may not be taking care of covid-19. “In these events, the ideal is for people to be at least vaccinated and wearing masks,” he says.
The epidemiologist also warns that families must pay attention to the fact that, because they are not vaccinated, children may be more susceptible to the virus.
The recommendation is for children from two years of age to make constant use of a mask, with the supervision of adults. “A lot of people say that a mask harms children. It’s not true, it’s super safe.”
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