RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Rock in Rio every year, increased use of the Sambadrome and a Disney park in Guaratiba in Rio’s West Zone. These are just some of Wilson Witzel’s proposals, who was at the opening of the festival in the City of Rock.
The governor knows that tourism can be the main ticket to success for Rio. In an interview with Globo, Witzel said that he has already had discussions with the event’s founder, Roberto Medina, including about extending the duration of the festival.
“Major events bring visibility to Rio and bring tourists to see the effects of our public safety policy,” he said. Tourists will begin to see how Rio de Janeiro is being pacified, with the police on the streets, the people happier, the mood changing in Rio de Janeiro. He confirmed that Rock in Rio is essential for the economy of the state. It represents over R$1.7 billion and 700,000 tourists.
Witzel added that this festival might even be a yearly event. But for this to happen, the government must help bring more investors to Rock in Rio. The festival could have an even more commercial format, involving exhibitions, along with Rock in Rio.
Witzel says tourism in Rio has grown by 18 percent. The government will bring more flights to Rio, with more connections.
“Connections from New York to Rio are no longer a problem because American Airlines has been selling Rio-New York flights since December,” he said and added that he has spoken extensively with Portugal as well. TAP can bring a route from Asia to Rio de Janeiro, with a stopover in Lisbon. The plan is to bring in more Asian tourists. Witzel wans to attract five million visitors to Rio by 2022. Today, there are about 2.5 million.
Witzel said further that he approached Disney with the help of the mayor of Miami Francis Suarez. There is talk of bringing a Disney park to Guaratiba, in Rio’s West Zone. There exists an area with five million square meters that belong to the Catholic Church. With this land, Witzel intends to offer Disney this possibility to build an amusement park, which he believes to be a game changer for the whole region.
(Source: Globo)