About Us
We are Rota Tropical, your local connection in Salvador, Bahia. We are professional and experienced and with us you get much more than just an online hotel and tour reservations portal; you get a warm welcoming human touch as well. We look forward to showing you our multi-faceted city.
Rafael, Mariana, Marcio, Raica, William, Giselle and Patricia are your local connection in Salvador, Bahia. We are Rota Tropical, a four years young travel agency, full of young people, but with almost sixty years of combined experience in the industry. We are changing the approach to tourism in this wonderful city and professionalism is our motto. We come from different parts of Brazil, where we've had previous experience in tourism. We have come together and pooled our diverse skills and talents. With the strength of the partnership between whl.travel and Rota Tropical you get far more than just an online Salvador hotel and tour reservations system; you get a warm welcoming human touch as well. So give it a try! We will make your Salvador vacation an unforgettable one.
Rota Tropical was born in Morro de São Paulo, but expanding to bring you Salvador was a natural step in our growth, as, after all, almost anybody visiting Morro de São Paulo visits Salvador on the way.
Salvador holds a special place in the imagination of all Brazilians. As we wander through this incredible city, everything we encounter reminds us of a bit of our history, especially of Brazil's opulent colonial era. The city's intimate relationship with the sea, her beautiful beaches, the Bay of All Saints, seem to arouse this affinity within us. And certainly, the incredible views of the sea from the upper city earn Salvador a special place in our hearts as our favorite among all the grand cities of Brazil. And we want to share our treasure with you!
How we started
In 1998, William Wazlawik, who was studying Computer Science at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, founded the "Cia da Aventura" (Adventure Company) in a partnership with Leonardo Esch. It started as an expedition organization group, but it soon was expanded to include tourism activities too. The Cia da Aventura activities were focused mainly in the cities of Nova Petrópolis and Cambará do Sul, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, in southern Brazil.
In the year 2000, Márcio Link, along with Rafael Ruppenthal - a.k.a "Reco", founded the Marreco Off-road tourism agency in Nova Petrópolis. During this period, Márcio got a degree in Business Administration and pursued a post-graduation course in Tourism. Reco, who had formerly worked with Cia da Aventura, was the link between both agencies that later resulted in a merger in 2002.
In 2003 three more people joined Marreco: Raica Metz - a Physical Education graduate, Thomas Wazlawik - an engineering student - and Martin Grings - a biology student.
Some years before, in the neighboring state of Santa Catarina, Rafael Ramires da Rosa finished his degree in Tourism and then set out to travel around the world. He spent two years working and visiting many countries. In Italy he met Mariana Becker, a Brazilian from his home town, Cricíuma. She had been working in tourism in Italy for two years, after having given up her Physical Education course in Brazil.
In 2002, they returned to Brazil and met Luciano Ribeiro de Souza, owner of a hotel in Morro de São Paulo. They moved to the island to work at the Praia do Encanto Hotel. Then, about one year later, they moved to Florianópolis, in their home state of Santa Catarina.
In 2003, Luciano met Márcio in a workshop at a tourism fair in Rio de Janeiro and invited him to visit Morro de São Paulo. Márcio fell in love with Morro de São Paulo and did some market research to explore the possibility of a move. A year later, when Márcio and William met Rafael and Mariana in Santa Catarina, they decided to go into partnership. In October of 2004, all three couples moved to Morro de São Paulo to start up their new travel agency, Quarta Praia Sul, which has since become Rota Tropical.
During our four years of operation, many things have happened and many plans have changed. William earned his degree in Marketing and Advertising. Gisele and Mariana are pursuing their degrees in Tourism. Márcio and Raica welcomed their first daughter, Maya, to our growing family. And now we have added Salvador to our list of destinations. Old partners have moved on, others remain, and new partners have joined the group. There is both continuity and change which have contributed to making us a solid agency, greatly respected throughout the region and with strong local partnerships.
We love to travel and discover new places. Every year we choose a destination so we can live a travel experience and understand our clients' ever-changing needs, with a goal of improving the quality of our services.
To travel is to share experiences and to enrich our cultural perceptions. Discovering new smells, tasting new flavors, listening to new sounds or learning a new language is priceless. The richness of these experiences become an integral part of every traveler and can never be taken away from him. That's why you're invited to live these experiences with us.
We want to be your local connection to this magic destination!
