RIO 2017- a future opportunity for tourism legacy

The Rio Convention & Visitors Bureau organized on April 29 at the Maracanã stadium auditorium, the forum “Rio 2017 – a future opportunity for tourism legacy” in order to prepare the sector to hav

The Rio Convention & Visitors Bureau organized on April 29 at the Maracanã stadium auditorium, the forum “Rio 2017 – a future opportunity for tourism legacy” in order to prepare the sector to have a better vision of the post-Olympic period. The event brought together experts from the London and Barcelona Olympics to debate and discuss issues related to the tourism industry.

The Municipal Secretary of Tourism, Antonio Pedro Figueira de Mello, recalled that the state and municipal governments are investing heavily devising the Olympics, therefore the forum is an excellent opportunity to discuss, along with the private sector, the challenges for 2016 onwards.

To an audience of government officials, professional associations, hoteliers, airline executives and representatives of Rio’s tourism trade, the president of Rio CVB and ABIH-RJ, Alfredo Lopes, opened the event pointing out that the Olympics can speed up to 20 years the development of a city. In the Rio´s case, the hotel industry also are investing heavily and reached a growth of 48% in the number of beds.

Representing the Mayor Eduardo Paes, the Executive Secretary of Government Coordination, Pedro Paulo Carvalho Teixeira have exemplified the progress and efforts made by the city to make it an even bigger tourist destination. “Today, the Porto Maravilha” (harbor area urban and development project) is the largest urban world investment in progress in its kind and it is happening at a consequence to the Olympics, even if not directly related to the Games sites. This is a legacy that the city will inherit from a public-private partnership benefiting the tourist and Rio image.”

Introduced by the Commercial Director of Rio CVB, Michael Nagy, the CEO of Barcelona Tourism and President of CTECNO (Catalan Foundation), Jordi Carnes, presented a mapping of the Olympics held in Barcelona: “The transformation of Barcelona, especially in the port area, was responsible for putting the destination on the map of world tourism. We had great progress in reducing the unemployment rate and managed to become one of Spain’s main motor to its recovery.”

Chris Lynn, the vice president of North American and Emerging Market of London & Partners, stressed the importance of encouraging patriotism of the residents during the Olympics: “We made several campaigns, including the creation of ambassadors. We had 50,000 trained residents and who have served as volunteers. Today, although we have 10,000 of them who are willing to work on other projects, spreading the London brand where they are,” he said. London invested in marketing strategies to spread the brand of the Olympic city to the world. “This is the time to display the history, attractions and culture of Rio to the press coming to cover the Games. With a good media strategy is possible to disclose to the world what you want to show.”

Also according to the executive, the London Olympics have increased by 8% business in tourism and brought to the city a legacy to the sports equipment that has attracted many events to the city. “We spend 10 billion pounds with the Games. Today, our return, revolves around 18 billion.”

Representing the British Hospitality Association (BHA), the general counselor of the entity, Jackie Grech, reinforced the importance of the unity of the tourism industry players to conquer new spaces and opportunities with the Olympic Games. “It is important that the industry meets. In the tourism industry competitiveness is part of the game, but the union of efforts from all sectors will benefit tourism to a much better level. Combining different sectors of tourism, even from different countries, will coordinate with the Government improvements and advantages for the sector, for example, the ease of obtaining visas and regulations.” The executive also noted that the means of regulation of alternative accommodation, as, for example, Airbnb were implanted for the event.

Representing the State Government, the State Secretary of Tourism, Nilo Sergio Felix, recalled that the event brings opportunities to develop measures to encourage a greater flow of tourists into the state. “The Rio de Janeiro State tourist attractions are a few hours away from Rio to beautiful and attractive cities worth checking out, such as Ilha Grande (preserved natural environmental island), Paraty (UNESCO heritage colonial town), Búzios (resort city) and Petropolis.”

Closing the presentations, the Chairman and President of MCI event management company, Roger Tondeur, reinforced the opportunity to leverage the increase of the MICE sector in the post-Olympic period, noting that the tourist business is the future the leisure tourist. The executive also warned of the risk of the wave of progress lead to rampant price increases, becoming an obstacle to the uptake of events of different sizes.

The “Rio 2017 event – A future Opportunities” was promoted by the Rio Convention & Visitors Bureau, with the support from The City of Rio de Janeiro Secretary of Tourism, RIOTUR – The City of Rio Tourism Board, State Secretary of Tourism and, ABIH-RJ (Rio de Janeiro Hotels Association).

RIOTOUR is a member of the International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP) .

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

Share to...