Carnival in Rio: biggest carnival in history 

This year, the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro expects revenues of R$4.5 billion (about US$870 million).

This was announced by the city’s mayor’s office.

The “Cidade Maravilhosa” celebration is responsible for one-third of all economic activity in South America’s largest country during the carnival season.

According to the mayor’s office, the amount expected for the carnival season will be 12.5% higher than in 2020, the last year in which the festival was held in its entirety, since in 2021, due to the still latent effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the street parades (blocos), considered the heart of the Carnival, were canceled.

The groups that make up the “Carnaval de Rua” (Street Carnival) alone are expected to bring in R$1.2 billion (US$232 million), a 20% increase over 2020.

The figures come from the second edition of the “Carnaval de Rua” study, prepared by the Municipal Secretariat for Economic Development, Innovation, and Simplification in collaboration with the João Goulart Foundation Institute, the Riotur Municipal Tourism Office.

Carnival in Rio is an economic development engine for the city, as it generates jobs throughout the year and is the source of income for thousands of families who earn their living from the celebration.

A single day of parades at the Sambadrome involves some 20,000 workers.

The 27 parades at the Sambadrome in 2022, including those of the “Grupo Especial” (Special Group) and “Série Ouro” (Gold Series) societies, involved 66,200 people.

To make this year’s Carnival in Rio “unforgettable,” the Mayor’s Office awarded an unprecedented subsidy (R$2.15 million, about US$415,860) to each of the Special Group samba schools,” the “crème de la crème” of all the city’s samba troupes and those that perform the majestic parades in the Sambadrome.

After the difficult period that Rio and the Carioca Carnival have gone through due to the successive political and administrative crises of recent years, aggravated by the pandemic, it is time to hold the biggest Carnival in history in 2023,” said Eduardo Paes, the city’s mayor, when presenting the figures.

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