And … guess how many new hotels have gone up in town in the last few years?

O crescimento das empresas ligadas ao polo aeroespacial, a modernização da Refinaria Henrique Lage (Revap) e os institutos de pesquisa imprimiram um novo ritmo de expansão ao setor hoteleiro de São José dos Campos. Segundo o Sindicato de Hotéis, Restaurantes, Bares e Similares (Sinhores) nos últimos anos cerca de dez grandes empreendimentos surgiram ou estão em fase de implementação na cidade, todos na faixa de R$ 10 milhões a R$ 20 milhões de investimento.

My translation: “in the last few years about 10 large [hotel] projects arose or are in phase of construction in the city, all in the 10-20 million reais range of investment.”

This due, says the article, to “the growth of businesses connected to the aerospace industry, the modernization of the Revap refinery and the research institutes.” One would probably need to add to that the growth of Embraer, the “Boeing” of Brazil — and the world’s third largest airplane manufacturer in the world, last I heard.

The city’s hotels now have an 80% occupation rate. No wonder so many corporations want to build hotels here.