In a second year without the Carnival, the Rio economy may stop moving R$ 6 billion. Just with the street revelry, the expenses of lodging and consumption of the revelers reach around R$ 1 billion.
Sapucaí, on the other hand, receives more foreign tourists, moves tickets, sells cabins and concentrates most of the gains for the city in the period. The projection is by researchers Cristina Couri, from the Creative Economy Laboratory at ESPM, and Gabriel Pinto, from the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at Unirio.
The capital has already suspended the street carnival in the city while the parades of samba schools in Sapucaí are maintained. In the coming weeks, Covid-19’s epidemiological scenario will help define the proper protocols for the February party.
The city of Rio de Janeiro is among the capitals that suspended the revelry. In all, the CNN Agency accounts for the cancellation of the 2022 Carnival in 17 capitals and the Federal District. For researchers, Rio will be the most impacted municipality.
“The Carnival in Rio is the most important, historically. All cities will feel the same way, but proportionately. We see that Carnival in São Paulo has grown, mainly in the number of blocks. Brasília and Belo Horizonte as well. In addition to other traditional cities such as Salvador and Recife. But Rio is the biggest one”, stated Cristina Couri.
The survey also drew attention to the number of people who will have their income impacted by not having the street carnival. There are at least 20 thousand direct professionals, throughout the year, involved in the party.
“We have a movement of seven million people in love with Carnival in Rio at that time, generating great expectations. Let’s not forget about the people who work throughout the year. These 20 thousand, in fact, are the minimum because the street vendors are informal workers and extremely important, we were not able to count. At the same time as Carnival, there are people who don’t even come home, they stay on the street straight away to be able to sell”, explained Gabriel Pinto.
The survey pointed out that the average consumption of a reveler in a block is R$ 100 in the block itself, being R$ 65 in drinks. Considering the total number of street Carnival revelers, this makes a total of R$ 682.2 million, 80% of which with street vendors.
This week, the mayor of Rio, Eduardo Paes proposed to the sponsor of the official street carnival in Rio and to the city blocks that there be a kind of closed procession. The blocks would parade in three places in the city, with sanitary control, such as the Olympic Park and the Madureira Park.
The groups debate alternatives for holding the processions and prepare a counterproposal to be presented to the mayor.
*under the supervision of Pauline Almeida
Reference: CNN Brasil
