São Paulo – Following the pandemic, the state of Rio de Janeiro worked fast to bring domestic tourists back. It now aims to cement the return of foreign tourists. To this end, it has invested in promotion and worked with both government agencies and airlines.
“We saw a reduction in visitors, then we managed a resurgence from domestic visitors and now we’re manaing to bring foreigners back, too, which has led us to strike partnerships with airlines and operators to capitalize on this momentum of people traveling more,” Gustavo Tutuca, Secretary of Tourism of the State of Rio de Janeiro, told ANBA. He was at stand of Rio de Janeiro, one of the biggest and busiest at industry show WTM Latin America in São Paulo on Monday (15). He said, however, that tourism still faces the repercussions of the pandemic like a worldwide aircraft shortage.
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Tutuca mentioned the rebalancing of flights between the state’s two leading airports – Santos Dumont in the central area of state capital Rio de Janeiro, and RIOGaleão in the city’s North Zone, which receives the international flights. Until last year, Santos Dumont was receiving more passengers than its annual capacity of 10 million. Since October 2023, this has started to change.
Rio de Janeiro: Rebalancing flights between airports
By decision of the federal government, Santos Dumont started getting flights only from and to cities within 400 kilometers (250 miles) from Rio de Janeiro like São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, and Vitória. Galeão, in turn, was allocated inbound and outbound domestic and international flights above this distance. The “rebalancing”, the secretary said, has allowed a projected increase of 70% in the number of flights in 2024 compared to 2023 and a prospect that Galeão alone receives 15 million visitors.
The goal is to boost international arrivals and step up the inflow of visitors beyond the capital. Nature tourism, the Coffee Valley, the Sun Coast – where the city of Búzios is located – and the Green Coast – where Paraty and Angra dos Reis are – are some of 12 tourist regions in Rio that deserve a visit, the secretary said.
One strategy to promote Rio de Janeiro is working in partnerships with airlines that land on Galeão like Emirates Airline from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. “We’ve worked with Emirates to promote it. There has been an increase [in the number of tourists], but it’s still small. The most difficult part we already have, which is the nonstop flight between the two cities,” he says. Emirates flies to Rio de Janeiro four times a week and will have a fifth frequency starting November. This flight then follows to Buenos Aires. The airline also operates direct flights between Dubai and São Paulo.
According to figures from the Secretariat of Tourism of the State of Rio de Janeiro, 1.2 million foreign tourists visited the state in 2023. January and February this year saw 330,000 international arrivals. This year’s goal is to overcome 2023’s results.
Find out more about tourism in Rio de Janeiro.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
