The division of tourism and public entertainment of the department of culture of the city of Sao Paulo

The economic importance of tourism is a key reason for developing it in many Brazilian municipalities, as was the case of Sao Paulo City Hall in the 1930s. For this purpose, a division to manage this activity was established within the Department of Culture (DC). This Department is the focus of the present article, which aims to understand the importance of tourism in the municipal cultural policy, describe the responsibilities, and analyze the activities developed by the Division of Tourism and Public Entertainment. Defined as a qualitative descriptive research, it uses content analysis to scrutinize sources of different nature, composed of newspapers, legislation, administrative processes, etc. The influence of the public management of the Federal District on the planning and, consequently, on the construction of the narrative of the city of Sao Paulo as a tourist destination in the 1930s is the main contribution of the study, in a period when federal guidelines for the sector did not exist. Public investment in carnival festivities and the reluctance to approve the proposals issued by the Division of Tourism and Public Entertainment (DTDP) suggest that the guidelines of the municipal investments for the configuration of the city as a tourist destination were defined at a higher level than the DC and were not part of its cultural policy, yet the division gained external representativeness to deal with tourism issues in the city and was mobilized to support the organization of public events promoted by the municipality.