Tourists flock to Rio Carnival
March 6, 2005 | 12:00am
It’s a busy time in the Riotur office. When the Carnival is on, sleep is off. The staff in Rio de Janeiro’s city-owned travel agency, and organizers of the Carnival, are working around the clock to coordinate with the international media in promoting Rio de Janeiro and ensuring that all goes smoothly at the Sambadrome.
As the marketing director of Riotur, I have a very close and personal encounter with the Samba Carnival for more than 12 years. Life for many Brazilians is not easy. The Carnival helps them to forget the problems. The Rio Carnival is truly a people’s party.
As far as I’m concerned, this is all the reason to be happy. Tourist arrivals in Rio de Janeiro are up by nearly 20 percent. Marketing has paid off. An estimated 770,000 foreign tourists visited Rio de Janeiro during the 2005 Carnival alone, generating revenues of more than $500 million from accommodation, food, Carnival tickets and from other sources. As the cost of producing the Carnival is estimated at roughly $20 million, the returns are truly substantial, significantly impacting the economy of Rio de Janeiro.
Why then this tourist boom? Brazil is considered as a relatively safe destination free of fears from terrorism and natural disasters. The high cost of the euro and the hurricanes in the Caribbean have also diverted tourists, particularly Americans, to Brazil.
Majority of foreign tourists to Rio de Janeiro are from the USA, neighboring Argentina, and from various European countries (Germany, France and Italy). The new emerging market is in Asia, particularly mainland China, Hong Kong and Japan.
The promotion of Rio de Janeiro is based on selling a well-defined product; not just the Carnival, but a city of great diversity, history and geography. We have beaches, we have the world’s biggest urban rainforest and mountains. We have the museums, the theaters, a rich cultural heritage, and we have the Carnival. It is obvious that Rio wants to depart from its past "sex in the city" image. We want to sell sensuality, not sexuality. Topless women and nudity do not appear on our travel brochures promoting the Carnival, although local people feel quite at ease walking half naked on the beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema.
Like in any art or sport, commercialization is a fact of life. Rio Carnival is no exception. Private funding is needed for the survival and for the further development of an event of such magnitude and size. Private sponsorship, particularly for the samba schools is essential, and it is there to stay, but it should not be the underpinning force, nor should it compromise artistic creativity. Strict rules are in place for advertising. For example, no ads are allowed anywhere at the samba schools parade.
For most samba schools, the financing comes from three sources: Firstly, from the City of Rio de Janeiro; secondly, from participants attendance and rehearsal costs; and thirdly, from private companies. It is obvious, that if a samba school chooses the theme of hunger and food production or that of energy – like in this year’s competition – it is likely to attract private sponsorship.
Much has changed in the way samba schools compete, and the types of themes that they cover. More social causes, controversial subjects have been introduced to the parade. A few years ago, when one of the samba schools wished to promote the Ministry of Health’s "safe sex" campaign and condom use, a float featuring Adam and Eve in the act of lovemaking caused so much controversy that the Catholic Church insisted the float be discharged. The samba school decided to keep the float, but to cover it with a huge black plastic and a white ribbon with red letters "censurado" (censored) on top of it. The dramatic float will be long remembered.
As the marketing director of Riotur, I have a very close and personal encounter with the Samba Carnival for more than 12 years. Life for many Brazilians is not easy. The Carnival helps them to forget the problems. The Rio Carnival is truly a people’s party.
As far as I’m concerned, this is all the reason to be happy. Tourist arrivals in Rio de Janeiro are up by nearly 20 percent. Marketing has paid off. An estimated 770,000 foreign tourists visited Rio de Janeiro during the 2005 Carnival alone, generating revenues of more than $500 million from accommodation, food, Carnival tickets and from other sources. As the cost of producing the Carnival is estimated at roughly $20 million, the returns are truly substantial, significantly impacting the economy of Rio de Janeiro.
Why then this tourist boom? Brazil is considered as a relatively safe destination free of fears from terrorism and natural disasters. The high cost of the euro and the hurricanes in the Caribbean have also diverted tourists, particularly Americans, to Brazil.
Majority of foreign tourists to Rio de Janeiro are from the USA, neighboring Argentina, and from various European countries (Germany, France and Italy). The new emerging market is in Asia, particularly mainland China, Hong Kong and Japan.
The promotion of Rio de Janeiro is based on selling a well-defined product; not just the Carnival, but a city of great diversity, history and geography. We have beaches, we have the world’s biggest urban rainforest and mountains. We have the museums, the theaters, a rich cultural heritage, and we have the Carnival. It is obvious that Rio wants to depart from its past "sex in the city" image. We want to sell sensuality, not sexuality. Topless women and nudity do not appear on our travel brochures promoting the Carnival, although local people feel quite at ease walking half naked on the beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema.
Like in any art or sport, commercialization is a fact of life. Rio Carnival is no exception. Private funding is needed for the survival and for the further development of an event of such magnitude and size. Private sponsorship, particularly for the samba schools is essential, and it is there to stay, but it should not be the underpinning force, nor should it compromise artistic creativity. Strict rules are in place for advertising. For example, no ads are allowed anywhere at the samba schools parade.
For most samba schools, the financing comes from three sources: Firstly, from the City of Rio de Janeiro; secondly, from participants attendance and rehearsal costs; and thirdly, from private companies. It is obvious, that if a samba school chooses the theme of hunger and food production or that of energy – like in this year’s competition – it is likely to attract private sponsorship.
Much has changed in the way samba schools compete, and the types of themes that they cover. More social causes, controversial subjects have been introduced to the parade. A few years ago, when one of the samba schools wished to promote the Ministry of Health’s "safe sex" campaign and condom use, a float featuring Adam and Eve in the act of lovemaking caused so much controversy that the Catholic Church insisted the float be discharged. The samba school decided to keep the float, but to cover it with a huge black plastic and a white ribbon with red letters "censurado" (censored) on top of it. The dramatic float will be long remembered.
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