With the Covid-19 pandemic cooled down as a result of the advance in vaccination and the relaxation of restrictive measures, the city of Rio de Janeiro is getting ready to receive, in December, a significant number of visitors. The expectation of the tourist sector is that the movement at Christmas and New Year’s Eve will reach pre-pandemic levels.
Data obtained by CNN show that the occupancy of national and international flights to Rio de Janeiro has its maximum capacity for the last two weeks of the year. According to RIOgaleão, normally the occupancy rate for this period is 83%.
The hotel sector also perceives the high demand from tourists. According to the Rio hotel association, the trend is that establishments will no longer have available spaces for the last half of December. For this extended holiday of the Proclamation of the Republic, according to data from the Brazilian Association of Hotels in Rio de Janeiro (ABIH-RJ), the city’s hotel chain has 95% occupancy, which is the best holiday of 2021 for the sector.
The expectation of a high demand for tourists in Rio de Janeiro is confirmed by the survey carried out by Kayak. The data released last week by the online agency show the capital of Rio de Janeiro as the most sought-after national destination among Brazilians, appearing ahead of Recife, Salvador and Fortaleza.
Despite the advance of vaccination against Covid-19, the researcher at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), Margareth Dalcolmo, still sees with caution the resumption of tourism and the increase in the flow of people in Brazil. THE CNN this Sunday (14), the specialist in epidemiology says that the country has not yet reached the necessary vaccination coverage and said there is a possibility of a new wave of contamination.
“May occur [uma nova onda], epidemiologically speaking, it exists, although it is not likely. We have not yet reached a fully adequate vaccination rate, we need to keep advancing and not relax too soon”, said the researcher.
Fiocruz researchers argue that only when the country reaches 80% vaccination coverage, it is possible to make the measures more flexible. Currently, 123.6 million Brazilians already have the vaccine scheme against the virus.
Reference: CNN Brasil
