The city of Rio de Janeiro plans to win leisure business from the UK following a major overhaul of its image and marketing strategy.
Speaking at the official launch of the London office of Riotur earlier this month, the city’s secretary of tourism Gerard Bourgeaiseau said that Rio had undergone some radical changes in the past two years and taken steps to counteract the poor image it suffered from in the late 1980s.
“Rio is changing for the better and people who haven’t been there in the past five years will be surprised at the changes,”he added.
The tide began to turn in 1997 with the election of a new mayor and the implementation of the city’s first tourism strategy. Research showed that Europe was the fastest-growing incoming market and plans were launched to open offices in key locations such as Paris, Frankfurt and London.
Axis Sales and Marketing was appointed in October 1998 and will act as the UKoffice of Riotur dealing with trade, consumer and media enquiries.
The priority is increasing leisure sales as most of the 60,0000 UK travellers who visit Brazil each year are travelling on business.
Measures have also been taken to smarten up the city and improve its safety record. In total $78m is being ploughed into the renovation of existing hotels and new properties are coming on line including a Marriott hotel scheduled to open in Copacabana in 2000.
In an effort to crack down on street crime, 6,000 tourist police have been deployed to patrol the main tourist areas. A tourist bus and a new system of signposting in the city centre will also help guide tourists around the city’s main sights.
Highlighting the city’s main attractions, Bourgeaiseau pointed to the beaches, the historic district of Santa Teresa, the Tijuca Forest, the offshore islands and, of course, carnival.
“The average length of stay in the city is 2.8 days and five days during carnival. We are proposing that there is enough to keep people here for seven days,” said Bourgeaiseau.