VIDEO: Amigo Gringo spends his vacation in São Paulo

Do you already know the New York Times columnist Amigo Gringo? Well, if not, you should check out his tips on what to do (and not to do) in São Paulo.

Enjoy!

Check out his Youtube Channel for other great videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/canalamigogringo/

São Paulo to be the third biggest recipient of World Cup tourist spend

The Ministry of Tourism has released expected spend figures for tourists visiting the country during the world cup. The total is a staggering 6.7billion reais and I suspect it would be much higher if the informal economy was built in.

The figures, which are broken down by city, show that São Paulo will be the third biggest recipient behind Rio and Fortaleza.

The fact that São Paulo ranks so high despite not being a tourist destination is explained in part by the higher prices here compared to many of the other host cities. Other factors include the number of tourists passing through due to it having the country´s main international airport as well as the high profile nature of the games it is hosting.

Although it is not fashionable to say it, the costs, which don't include flights or tickets, would already be enough to cover the bill of 11 of the 12 stadiums which were built for the event. And that doesn't take into account the potentially greater financial return of the stadiums, namely, profits for a multidude of Brazilian businesses, the creation of thousands of direct jobs and the, albeit questionable, legacy of the infrastructure.

The new advert for São Paulo's amusement park (Hopi Hari)

Hopi Hari is a fictional country located 80km outside of São Paulo. In reality it's just a theme park, the only "residents" or "Hopius" being the amusement park employees who presumably are fluent in Hopês (Hopi Harian language). However it somewhat incredibly attracts 5 million visitors a year which is more than the Christ the Redeemer statue and Sugar Loaf mountain put together!

Inside Hopi Hari land you'll find delights such as the Klapi Klapi, the Rio Bravo, the Bili Bili as well as the Eiffel Tower ride (out of which someone actually fell and died earlier this year so you might want to think twice about this one). But the star of the show is the new Montezum which is billed as the largest rollercoaster in Latin America.

Below is its new advertising campaign aimed at getting you to confront your fears:

I thought the frightened fish was a cute metaphor for a sushi-mad Paulistano public. Well done Young and Rubicam.

SP Turismo's Viva Tudo Isso campaign

By the was this was the official video put together by Sao Paulo Tourist board under the "Viva Tudo Isso"      ("(Long) Live all of this") umbrella campaign to commemorate the city's birthday yesterday:

Viva Tudo Isso from Brenno Castro on Vimeo.