Two years have passed almost to the day since the opening of the Rio de Janeiro Games. Friday August 5, 2016, the Olympic flame was lit at the Maracana stadium. The culmination of a preparation marked by delays, budget cuts and political upheavals.
Since then, Rio de Janeiro has not only seen abandonment and decrepitude take over all of its Olympic sites one by one. The Brazilian city is also facing a new crisis, very unexpected after the Olympic Games. It affects tourism. And it turns out to be very spectacular.
According to the latest figures published by the Brazilian Hotel Industry Association, no less than 16 hotels have closed their doors in Rio de Janeiro since the end of the Summer Games in 2016. The latest, the Mercure de Barra, officially ceased its activity on Wednesday August 1, 2018.
The reasons ? According to industry experts, there are many. The economic crisis, the resurgence of violence in Rio de Janeiro after the relative calm of the Olympic period. And, even more so, the absence of a national and international marketing campaign to ride the wave of the Games and attract tourists.
Alfred Lopes, president of the Rio de Janeiro office of the Brazilian Association of the Hotel Industry, explained this to the daily O Globo: “ After the 2016 Games, we didn't have a single promotional campaign to sell Rio to the rest of the country and the world"
Same story with Frédéric Cockenpot, the owner of a real estate group specializing in luxury hotels: “ The Brazilian government and that of Rio spent billions on the Games. But, once the flame was extinguished, they found themselves without a penny to follow up. As a result, there was not a single campaign to stimulate tourism"
In 2016, at the height of the tourism boom in Rio de Janeiro, nearly 60.000 hotel rooms were available on the market. During the Summer Games, the state of Rio recorded the arrival of 572.961 visitors. A record.
But the improvement did not last. Frédéric Cockenpot warns: “ The drop in attendance could continue for at least another year or two, if nothing is done to stop it"
In the Olympic world, it is frequently admitted that the tourism benefits of the Games are not measured immediately, but rather over the following years. On condition, however, that you know how to ride the Olympic effect without relaxing promotional efforts.
Host city of the Games in 2000, Sydney noticed this, with an increase in the number of foreign tourists during the following Olympics. In Rio de Janeiro, the effect is the opposite. The Brazilians imagined that the investment made to organize the 2016 Games would be enough. They were wrong. In the absence of a post-Olympic marketing campaign, the excitement of the Olympics quickly faded.
Unlike Rio de Janeiro, London is rubbing its hands at having organized the Games in 2012. A study unveiled last month by UK Sport, six years to the day after the opening ceremony at the Olympic stadium, reveals that the English capital raked in more than 130 million pounds (145 million euros) in profits from events held at the 2012 Games venues.
In total, 25 international competitions have taken place in London, with the support of UK Sport, over the last 6 years. They brought together 1,3 million spectators. The 2017 outdoor World Athletics Championships alone at the Olympic Stadium boosted the coffers of the City of London with a jackpot of 79 million pounds (88,5 million euros).
The London 2012 Olympic legacy is a success, but it comes at a cost. Conversely, the Brazilians were unable, or unwilling, to continue the financial effort. They pay a high price for it.
