Brazil 2014: 540,000 tourists injected €600m into local economy of city of Sao Paulo

540,000 tourists travelled to the city of Sao Paulo for six games (four group-stage games, a quarter-final and a semi-final) of the 2014 World Cup (Brazil, 12/06 to 13/07/2014) held in the Arena de Sao Paulo, the Brazilian government announced on 18/07/2014. This is about 40% more than were expected by local authorities, who projected 390,000 visitors.

During their stay, Brazilian tourists spent an average of 2,200 reais (about €731) and stayed an average of 4.4 days in Sao Paulo, while foreigners stayed 8.3 days and spent 4,900 reais ( approximately €1,628) per person. In total, tourists injected 1.8bn reais (approximately €600m) into the local economy of the city.

65% of the tourists were Brazilians, or about 350,000 people; they came from elsewhere in Sao Paulo state (241,500 tourists, 69%), Rio de Janeiro (18,200, 5.2%), and Minas Gerais (17,800, 5.1%). Of the 190,000 foreigners, 72,200 came from Argentina (38%), 18,000 from Chile (9.5%), 14,600 from Colombia (7.7%) and 9,500 from the United States (5%).

91% of spectators arrived at the Arena de Sao Paulo by metro

• 345,000…