Rio is expected to receive 20% more tourists for New Year's Eve 2017.
Despite hotel occupancy rates in Rio de Janeiro for New Year's Eve falling from 98% in 2015 to around 85% in 2016, the number of tourists in the city increased by 20%, according to the Brazilian Association of the Hotel Industry – Rio de Janeiro (ABHI-RJ). This occurred because the supply of rooms increased due to the Olympics, an event for which 18 rooms were opened in the city. ABHI-RJ expects hotel occupancy to remain high throughout the summer, including during Carnival, which in 2017 will be at the end of February.
Akemi Nitahara, reporter for Agência Brasil - Despite the hotel occupancy rate in Rio de Janeiro for New Year's Eve falling from 98% in 2015 to around 85% in 2016, the number of tourists in the city increased by 20%. According to the Brazilian Association of the Hotel Industry – Rio de Janeiro (ABHI-RJ), this occurred because the supply of rooms increased due to the Olympics, an event for which 18 rooms were opened in the city.
According to the president of ABHI-RJ, Alfredo Lopes, the Olympics greatly influenced the promotion of Rio de Janeiro, attracting more tourists for New Year's Eve.
"For practically 30 days, the entire world and Brazilian press was here in Rio de Janeiro. This generated great expectation, curiosity, and a desire to get to know this new Rio de Janeiro, with new tourist attractions, the port, the South Zone, and Barra da Tijuca. All this expectation is paying off for New Year's Eve, with 85% occupancy in the South Zone, which we expect to reach close to 90%, and 80% in Barra, where we expect to reach 85%. I think that made the difference. Even in a year of crisis, New Year's Eve will be a full house."
ABHI-RJ expects hotel occupancy to remain high throughout the summer, including during Carnival, which in 2017 will be at the end of February. According to Lopes, it is during this period that they expect to reach 95% occupancy again in the city. "For Carnival, we intend to maintain the same occupancy level as last year, around 95%. The strategy has been to promote the event in Brazil and South America, and we have noticed people's interest," he added.
Three large cruise ships arrived today (31) at Pier Mauá for the New Year's Eve party, with approximately 16 thousand tourists. According to the operations manager of the site, Alexandre Gomes, the Olympic Games also generated the largest flow of transatlantic ships, as the entire port area was revitalized for the mega sporting event.
"The Olympic Games definitively put Rio de Janeiro on the international tourism map, but so did the Porto Maravilha project and the city's new tourist facilities located around the port, such as the Museum of Tomorrow, the Rio Art Museum, and Acqua Rio. Passengers arriving in Rio de Janeiro have options close to the port. Crew members, who don't always have time to visit the city completely, also have tourism options nearby."
According to the manager, Christmas was the best in the last ten years at the terminal. "There were four large ships, the four largest of the cruise season in Brazil. We handled around 20 tourists in a single day," said Alexandre.
cruises
Married for 55 years, retirees Julieta Maria and Hamilton Batista are from Florianópolis and embarked on their fifteenth cruise together aboard the Costa Fascinosa. She said she has already seen the world by sea and feels safer on ships than on land.
"I already know the world. Europe, Asia, the United States. If someone gave me a plane ticket as a gift today, I wouldn't accept it. I'd rather go on a cruise. Besides, Europe and the United States are very violent. We're wonderfully in a hotel and, suddenly, a bomb explodes. What I'm going to do now is get to know my Brazil deeply."
Despite numerous cruises, this is the first time the couple will be enjoying Rio de Janeiro's world-famous New Year's Eve celebrations. Hamilton explained that they preferred to escape the excessive tourist crowds in their own city.
"We always spend New Year's Eve in Florianópolis because we really love our island. But this year we decided to leave because there are so many people. From 550 inhabitants, it transforms into a city of 1,5 million. We mainly avoid the influx of Argentinians. Not that they are bad, they are extremely nice, but it greatly complicates our environment and the traffic. That's why we came by ship along the coast to Rio, which is an extremely pleasant city."
In the late afternoon, the ships head towards Copacabana Beach, where they dock to watch the traditional New Year's Eve fireworks display, which will last 12 minutes and is expected to draw an audience of 2 million people.