Hotel occupancy in Rio for the off-season carnival, which starts today (20th) and goes until Sunday (24th), records an average of 78% of rooms booked for the period. The data are from the Brazilian Association of the Hotel Industry Rio de Janeiro (Abih-RJ) and HotéisRIO.
The neighborhoods of Barra da Tijuca/São Conrado occupy the first position, with 80.60%, Ipanema/Leblon in second with 79.29% and Leme/Copacabana in third (77.64%). Then come Flamengo/Botafogo (72.09%) and Centro (71.28%).
In the interior of the state, the average is even better, with 90.26% of rooms reserved. Costa do Sol opens the list with Arraial do Cabo (96.80%), Cabo Frio (93.50%) and Armação dos Búzios (93.40%). Paraty, on the Costa Verde, has 92%; soon after, a tie between Itatiaia/Penedo, in Agulhas Negras, and Macaé, in Costa do Sol, with 91.5%.
Next comes Miguel Pereira (91.4%), in Vale do Café, and Teresópolis (91%), in Serra Verde Imperial, followed by Angra dos Reis (90%), in Costa Verde. Vassouras and Valença/Conservatória, in Vale do Café, registered 88.7% and 88.1%, respectively, Rio das Ostras, in Costa do Sol, 87.2% and Petrópolis, in Serra Verde Imperial, 80.2%.
According to the research, this will be a Carnival with many domestic tourists, who account for 86% of reservations. Most come from São Paulo, followed by Minas Gerais. In third place are tourists from the state of Rio, with capixabas in fourth place.
Couples and families predominate, followed by solo and group visitors. Among the age groups, the first place goes to people between 31 and 40 years old, followed by those between 41 and 50 years old, 51 to 60 years old and 21 to 30 years old.
According to the survey, it is already possible to observe a gradual return of foreign tourists, who represent 14% of guests. Most come from the United States, followed by Argentina, Chile and Colombia. They are predominantly couples, followed by individual visitors, families and groups. The 41-50 age group ranks first, followed by the 31-40 age group, then 21-30 and 51-60.
The president of HotéisRIO, Alfredo Lopes, highlighted that Carnival is the biggest event in Rio: data from Riotur show that, in 2020, the party was accompanied by 2.1 million tourists, who generated around R$ 4 billion in the economy. From Rio.
“We believe that the occupancy numbers will increase even more. Our expectation is that, by the day of the beginning of the carnival, it will reach 85%. After two years without parades and blocks, the public wants to enjoy the charms of the Marvelous City again”, said Lopes, in a note.
The state secretary of Tourism, Sávio Neves, highlighted the consolidation of destinations in Rio, during the resumption of activities.
“We came out of a Holy Week holiday with excellent numbers and maintained the level at Carnival. Apart from all the symbolism of the return of this party, which is the biggest show in the world, the numbers represent that we are on the right path for the total resumption of activities, with tourism as the locomotive that will generate economic and social development for our state. ”, said the secretary.
