The state institution of tourism in Santa Catarina, SANTUR, has for several years collected information about the most visited municipalities. They summarize the result in a yearly report, which we have summarized in english.

Number of Visitors season 2004/2005	No. Visitors *1000			Increase from previous season
	Brazilians	Foreigners	Total	per cent	No. Visitors *1000
Balneario Camboriu	756	106	862	16 %	102
Florianopolis	454	121	575	- 8 %	-41
Itapema	153	18	171	- 1 %	-1
Bombinhas	130	34	164	8 %	10
Laguna	133	6	139	- 21 %	-35
Garopaba	125	11	136	62 %	48
Sao Francisco do sul	99	2	101	- 19 %	-23
Piçarras	82	1	83	60 %	31
Governador Celso Ramos	60	3	63	140 %	35
Porto Belo	50	5	55	72 %	21
Penha	35	-	35	-	-

Most people believe that Florianopolis is the largest tourist destination in Santa Catarina, but in fact, Balneario Camboriu attracts by far most visitors of all beach areas. There is a distinct difference between these municipalities; Balneario Camboriu and its combination of the beach and the city with an immense supply of leisure options, and Florianopolis with more typical tourist resorts mixed with nature, culture and tradition.

Bombinhas stands out by its top class beaches, oddly shaped archipelago, and beautiful environment, while the city beach Itapema is popular amongst families with kids. In general, these municipalities have nothing additional to offer than Balneario Camboriu or Florianopolis, with the exception that properties and rental fees are lower.

Garopaba stands in sharp contrast against many other beaches due to its nature and country side environment, and many of the beaches in this municipality are, like Governador Celso Ramos, relatively unexplored. Palhoça is a third community with this characteristic but this municipality was not included in the report.

It is a surprise that the two oldest cities in Santa Catarina, Laguna and Sao Francisco do Sul, are so high up on the list as they are. But these culture historical cities have several nice beaches within their community borders, and their culture and history is a little bit different from that of Florianopolis. They are also situated on the continent which allows easier access to visit the mountain ranges, cities, and other popular tourist destinations.

Piçarras and Penha are also amongst the 10 most visited beach areas in the state. These beaches are located in the northern part of Santa Catarina, and attract visitors from the north that arrive by car.

 

Increase of Visitors, number *1000	99/00	00/01	01/02	02/03	03/04	04/05
Balneario Camboriu	859	768	488	511	770	862
Florianopolis	506	552	371	308	574	575
Itapema	170	188	138	131	168	171
Bombinhas	84	131	54	96	138	164
Garopaba	-	46	37	79	88	136
Governador Celso Ramos	-	-	12	25	26	60

It is notable that visitors to the 3 largest tourist destinations, Balneario Camboriu, Florianopolis and Itapema, have not increased the last year compared to the season 99/00. There have been a couple of crisis around during at the beginning of the decade and they hit hard amongst price sensitive consumers in both Brazil and the neighbor countries. The number of visitors decreased considerably the first years of this century.

The exception is Garopaba and Governador Celso Ramos, two places that attract visitors based on different features. Garopaba for its nature and peaceful environment, and Governador Celso Ramos for the quality of the beaches and as a cheaper alternative than other tourist areas.

 

Foreign tourists, number *1000	99/00	00/01	01/02	02/03	03/04	04/05
Balneario Camboriu	247	308	96	100	116	105
Florianopolis	171	233	75	75	89	121
Itapema	38	53	11	15	14	18
Bombinhas	32	64	6	11	18	34
Garopaba	4	10	5	13	11	11
Governador Celso Ramos	-	-	1	2	1	3

The dominating group of foreign tourists comes from the neighbor countries in South America, notably Argentina. The difficult economic crisis that occurred in Argentina year 2001 is easily detected in the table above, when foreign visitors fell to 1/3 over one season. Foreign tourism has recovered a little bit but is still far from the good days at the turn of the century. The reason is simple; while 1 Argentinean Peso bought 2 Brazilian Real year 2000, it takes 3 Pesos to buy 2 Real today.

The statistics is not dividing foreign visitors into nationalities so it is difficult to tell about tourism from Europe and North America. But there are quite a few tourists from Germany, since Santa Catarina is well know there due to the german heritage. Santa Catarina is also relatively known in USA, and many who visit Brazil do also spend some days in Santa Catarina.

 

Type of accommodation used, in %, season 2004/2005	Hotel	Own Home	Home for Rent	Others
Balneario Camboriu	17	46	36	1
Florianopolis	30	42	25	3
Itapema	11	32	56	1
Bombinhas	29	12	52	7
Garopaba	17	40	32	10
Governador Celso Ramos	21	32	43	4

It is notable that the hotel segment covers a rather limited share in Santa Catarina and most tourists either rent or own an apartment or a house.

Bombinhas and Itapema had the largest share of tourists that rented a home, or in other words, investors is the dominating group of home owners amongst the visitors. On the other hand, a large share the tourists in Balneario Camboriu and Florianopolis stayed in their own homes.