The Local Committee of the 33rd IAEE’s Rio 2010 International Conference has just announced that the Cultural Event of the Conference will take place at the Sugar Loaf  on June, 8th 2010.
Pão de Açúcar, the Sugar Loaf, is considered the image of Rio de Janeiro due to its beauty. It has a tradition on hosting events, like big concerts and events parties.
The participants of the conference will be served with private transportation from the conference to the location of the event, the Sugar Loaf, with all the security and comfort. After the event, the transport to the hotel Intercontinental will be provided.
To reach the Cultural Event, the participants will have the pleasure to take the famous bondinho, the suspense tram (cable car) of the Sugar Loaf.
This Cultural Event will be a party with dinner for the participants to make contacts with each other, networking and, of course, to enjoy the city’s beautiful landscape.
Don’t miss this opportunity to attend the 33rd IAEE’s International Conference and see one of the most beautiful views in Brazil!
Foreigners find Rio as the city with the highest ranking in Brazil. 76% of them intend to come back, as reported in a survey made by Embratur.
The study analyses the tourism of international events in the country and, for this purpose, compared thirteen of the most important Brazilian cities. Among them, Rio de Janeiro is above the national average.
Embratur’s data reveals that around 38% of the foreigners that visit Rio de Janeiro already knew that it was going to be a good experience.
For 51,5% , the image of the city has improved after they visit it.
The survey also points that the tourists spent in average US$ 395 per day in Rio to be in some event. They spend more than four times the US$ 98 spent when they come to Rio only to visit.
Embratur thinks Rio de Janeiro will attract more international conferences and fairs after having been chosen to host the 2016 Olympic Games, and remembers Rio will be a candidate city for the Expo 2020, one of the biggest business events in the world.
Janine Pires, president of Embratur, says that this survey shows “how an event can modify the image of a city and positively push its economy”.
Posted at http://viagem.uol.com.br/ultnot/efe/2009/10/15/ult3903u841.jhtm
Rio de Janeiro is rightfully and proudly celebrating a historic victory: being named the host city for the 2016 Summer Olympics, the first South American city to host one of humankind’s truly global extravaganzas. If all goes right, it will be a most memorable celebration. Athletes will participate either in or close to world famous icons such as the Maracana soccer stadium, the spiritual home of the “beautiful game,” and bodacious Copacabana beach. Some events, like rowing or triathlon, will take place in the shadow of Sugarloaf mountain and the outstretched arms of Christ the Redeemer. Ah, but note that conditional: if all goes right. There is much preparation and building to do. And if it all doesn’t go right, the Olympic celebration is likely to lead to much recrimination.
Cariocas, as the residents of Rio call themselves, are still reeling from the cost of the last big athletic event held in their city. The budget for the Pan American Games of 2007 was $177 million. It probably cost several times that at the end (some reports estimate it at close to $2 billion). For the biggest athletic event of all, the Rio Olympic organizing committee has set its budget at $2.82 billion, with another $11.1 billion going to related expenses such as transport, power and security. (Another $170 million has been set aside for the Paralympic Games which usually follow right after the Olympics.)
There are eight existing venues that need to be renovated in time for the Games, including the JoĂŁo Havelange Stadium where the track and field events will take place. Three of the venues are new, built for the Pan Am Games; however, they do not meet the IOC’s size or technical standards. The velodrome for track cycling, the aquatics center for diving and water polo and the JoĂŁo Havelange Stadium all need extensive work. The existing sites for archery, sailing, rowing, equestrian, shooting, kayak and rowing, as well as the route of the marathon also need work. All told $200 million has been set aside for upgrades.
Meanwhile, another 11 permanent venues costing an estimated $674 million are to be constructed for basketball, judo, taekwondo, wrestling, handball, modern pentathlon, fencing, tennis, swimming and synchronized swimming, canoe and kayak slaloms, and BMX cycling. Then, at least $78 million will be spent on seven temporary structures for beach volleyball, triathlon, marathon swimming, race walking, road cycling, weightlifting, hockey, mountain biking and modern pentathlon. Rio has promised to spend $427 million on an athlete’s village that replicates “the outdoor lifestyle of Rio’s beachside neighborhoods” (and no doubt swings to the sounds of samba and bossa nova). And, for an even greater taste of Brazil, a dedicated shuttle bus will take athletes to a beach set aside exclusively for participants.
As if that isn’t enough to deal with, two very large issues are tourist lodgings and security. Rio lacks hotel rooms, and although it has promised to increase the number available before 2016, some of the promised beds are on private cruise ships, a situation that worried the IOC enough to question the strategy’s reliability and accountability. Another issue is street violence. The games committee lauded what they called Rio’s “increased public safety and reductions in crime.” But the number of homicides in the city is rising again and is up 9.9% so far this year. Officials would likely flood the city with troops and police as they did for the Pan Am Games in 2007. But such a military presence will weigh down any party atmosphere. Safety remains a troubling issue.
Nevertheless winning the Games is a huge boost for Rio. The decision promises to transform a city that has fallen into disrepair and has been looking for a purpose since losing its capital city status in 1960 to the modernist built-to-order jungle metropolis of Brasilia. The massive investment will rejuvenate it. In fact, organizers and government administrators believe that every Brazilian real spent on the Games will generate three in profit.
The entire Olympic bid has been extremely popular: one study showed 85% of Cariocas and 69% of Brazilians supported the city’s candidacy. Indeed, Cariocas consider the 2007 Pan American Games a big success, but they do so by overlooking the costs and organizational snafus. To secure the Pan Ams, Rio promised to transform the city with a new ring road system, a “via light” highway, a new state highway and 54 km of new metro line. Guanabara Bay, the fetid body of water whose smell assails visitors driving into town from the international airport, was to be cleaned up. None of those plans came to fruition, prompting the current mayor, and former state Sports Secretary, to admit that the city promised too much and provided too little.
The Brazilian government may have to step in to help out. How it will do so will be clearer in the next two years as the country prepares for the 2014 World Cup. So far, the indications are not great. The country was awarded soccer’s big championship almost two years ago, but work has yet to start on the 12 stadiums needed for that spectacle. Meanwhile, a much-talked about bullet train linking SĂŁo Paulo and Rio is yet to leave the drawing board. Many officials now doubt whether it will be ready in time for the World Cup. Brazil and Rio can party now and celebrate. But then it’s time to roll up sleeves. There’s a ton of work to do if they want to throw an even bigger party in 2016.
“The Wonderful City” wins an international “Oscar” for tourism
Rio de Janeiro won another contest thanks to its beauty. The city was chosen the best destination in South America by the contest “World Travel Awards”, a kind of tourism and luxury travels “Oscar”. Ipanema beach, in Rio, won the best beach award in the same contest.
The award celebration will take place in London, on November 7th, and BBC World will live broadcast it. This contest is part of the World Travel Market, a tourism business fair.
On September 2nd, Rio de Janeiro was elected the happiest city in the world, as published in Forbes magazine, by a survey with 10.000 people in more than 20 countries.
Created on 1993 by an important publication in the tourism business – Travel Weekly – the World Travel Awards has an internet pole system, in which almost 200.000 travel agents and professionals from 198 countries are able to vote. Rio de Janeiro had already won the award for the best destination in South America in the past, as well as several companies in the city.
Rio is also competing for another award: the best gay destination. The city is in the finals with Barcelona (Spain), Buenos Aires (Argentine), London (England), Montreal (Canada) and Sidney (Australia). The voting – hosted by the website www.tripoutgaytravel.com/awards – ends on September, 28th. The winner will be announced on November, 2nd, in Boston.
Published Friday, September 11th, 2009 in O Globo newspaper
Good humor and Carnival gave Rio de Janeiro the award of “happiest city in the world”, according to a survey published in the Forbes magazine (http://www.forbes.com/2009/09/02/worlds-happiest-cities-lifestyle-cities.html). The survey, conducted by policy advisor and market researcher Simon Anholt, from the institute GfK Custom Research North America, heard 10.000 people in 20 different countries.
“Brazil is associated with good humor, great life style and Carnival. Carnival is part of the classic image people have of Rio, and it is an image of happiness”, said the researcher Simon Anholt, responsible for the survey.
She points Portugal’s and Africa’s mix of influence as breeders of Rio’s “party culture”. “The portuguese court enjoyed parties. Religious holidays were an excuse for street parties. Black people came to Brazil in very difficult conditions, but they had in their origin the love for dancing and for street activities. The carioca – the one that is born in Rio – inherited this. The street is important to Rio.”
But according to psychologyst Phrygia Arruda, from Rio Federal University’s Psychology Institute, urban landscape is determinant for the “carioca way of like”. “People leave the tunnel and see a lagoon [Rodrigo de Freitas]. The urban space makes you feel happy”, she adds.
Rachel agrees with Phrygia’s thesis, but remembers: “Suburban people live in decaying regions of town, which normally lack of attractive landscapes, but they also love their streets”.
Australian metropolis Sydney was ranked second, followed by Barcelona, Amsterdam and Melbourne. The best placed Latin American city after Rio de Janeiro was Buenos Aires, which ranked 10th.
published Friday, September 4th, 2009 in SĂŁo Paulo’s Folha de SĂŁo Paulo newspaper
IAEE’s 2009 San Francisco International Conference was held from the 20th to the 24th of june at the Grand Hyatt in San Francisco. Next stop will be June 2010, in Rio de Janeiro, right before the World Cup! We will be pleased to receive you in our wonderful city. See you soon!
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