STEPHANIE ACKLAND REPORTS ON A FAST DEVELOPING‘ SECOND CITY’, ADDING NEW OPTIONS FOR MEETING PLANNERS AND DELEGATES

capital of Sao Paulo lies the state’ s second largest city, Campinas. A city busily positioning itself as international meetings hub.

Known within Brazil, and LATAM, as an economic powerhouse, Campinas’ GDP is the second largest in the state, outside the capital. Sector strengths include telecoms, biotech, agritech, oil and gas.

An agile city, easy to get to and easy to navigate, it is well equipped for meetings with proximity to major highways and the award-winning Viracopos International Airport.

With 11,000 hotel rooms, integrated congress centres and a welcome

oftentimes absent in a larger metropolis, companies are choosing it for their operations. Over 1,000 tech-lead companies, national and global are based here.

Integrated convention centres Convention and exhibition space is well-provided. Expo D. Pedro, in the centre of the city, has a total 13,000sqm of conference space, a 2,500 main hall capacity and 7,000sqm exhibition area, all at convenient ground floor level and located in Parque Dom Expo, home to one of LATAM’ s largest shopping malls.

Royal Palm Hall Convention Centre offers a total of 44,000sqm of meeting space and its main hall is the largest fully flexible space in the country. It can host 5,200 people in the auditorium and 3,500 for banquets. The Royal Palm Campinas Complex has four onsite hotels.

White Pavilion at Wet‘ n Wild Water Park is another option. A modern, flexible space, set in natural forest with a view of the park and lake. The venue can accommodate up to 2,100 in its

Top left:

Resident Toucan- Flor da Lua Coffee Farm

Bottom left:

MAAS- Obervatory & Astronomy

Museum

main hall, good for exhibitions, product launches and corporate events with its onsite attractions.

As part of its recent Corporate Tour, Embratur, the Brazilian Tourist Board, in conjunction with SEBRAE, recently chose Campinas as one of two cities to showcase to a group of international meeting planners.

“ Campinas stands out as a hub of innovation, science, and technology in Brazil,” says Luis Felipe Campos Almeida, president of Campinas and Region CVB.“ The city is 5th in the ICCA ranking for Brazil. It is a city with a very international outlook.”

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Sirius- Synchrotron

Home of world firsts For associations looking to align with academic and scientific knowledgehubs, Campinas is steadily becoming