By Lise Alves, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Rio de Janeiro state officials expect over R$3.5 billion to circulate during the five-day Carnival festivities, according to the Federation of Commerce of Goods, Services and Tourism of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Fecomercio-RJ).
“It’s a volume that is surprising. It is very positive,” said João Gomes, chief economist of Fecomercio-RJ. For Gomes, Rio de Janeiro is beginning to demonstrate “a certain [economic] recovery”.
According to Fecomercio-RJ the average spending for tourists going to Rio state for the festivities will be R$1,500.
The airports of Galeão and Santos Dumont, in Rio along with the airports of Guarulhos (São Paulo), Congonhas (São Paulo), Recife (Pernambuco) and Salvador (Bahia) are expected to transport approximately 6.8 million passengers during the carnival holiday.
Officials estimate that there will be 41,700 landings and departures in these airports between February 25th and March 9th in both domestic and international flights.
In the city of Rio de Janeiro, the Santos Dumont Airport, which caters to domestic flights expects to receive 160,000 passengers during these days.
The average occupancy rate of seats offered by airlines should be of 85 percent during this time.
In all, Brazil’s National Confederation of Commerce, Services, and Tourism (CNC) is estimating that this year’s Carnival will generate some R$6.8 billion for the country and create almost 24,000 jobs.
The forecast represents a two percent increase from Carnival 2018 and the first increase in revenue for the event in the last three years.
The jobs created for this year’s Carnival, while only temporary positions, is a 23 percent increase compared to last year’s Carnival, which created nineteen thousand jobs.