Brazil Set to Spend $11.6 Billion on FIFA World Cup amidst High U.S. Interest

Brazil is spending $11.6 billion to build and modernize soccer stadiums, airports and “urban mobility” and tourism infrastructure in anticipation of the FIFA World Cup 2014 soccer tournament, according to Flavio Dino, president of the Brazilian Tourism Board (Embratur), who spoke in a media on Oct. 22.

Dino said FIFA has received 6.2 million requests for World Cup tickets from 203 countries during the initial application period, the most requests from the United States second only to Brazil itself, which logged 4,368,029. The U.S. accounted for 374,065 requests, followed by Argentina (266,937), Germany (134,899) and Chile (102,899).

Scheduled for June 12 to July 13, 2014, the World Cup will bring 600,000 foreign tourists to Brazil, said Dino, with matches scheduled to be held in cities around the country. Embratur will launch a new global advertising campaign to attract international visitors to Brazil on Oct. 23, he said.

“The World Cup will bring economic returns as well as return in world recognition [for Brazil],” he said. “State and municipal governments are also investing in infrastructure, and private capital investments are happening as well.” Entrepreneurs have invested $2.3 million in the country’s hotel network in anticipation of travel to the event, Dino added.

Embratur will work closely with U.S. travel agents to provide information on travel to Brazil during the World Cup and 2016 Olympics. “Our outreach to U.S. began earlier this year with the opening of three new tourist offices in New York, Chicago and L.A.,” said Dino. “We are also working with the U.S. government to negotiate toward the lifting of U.S. visa restrictions that currently affect both countries. There is no reason for the U.S. to maintain visa requirements for Brazilian tourists.”

Dino said Embratur is working to address widespread concerns regarding the country’s readiness to host both the World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games, which will be based in Rio de Janeiro. Global observers have expressed concern over issues ranging from difficulty in travel, accommodations and consumer costs for visitors to the destination’s ability to provide adequate airlift to serve the expected visitor surge.

“The concerns are real and we are currently having negotiations with hotels, with FIFA and the airlines in order to seek fair prices,” said Dino. “The increase in prices is normal under high levels of demand, but we need to have reasonable parameters for such increases. We are also re-planning our flight grid to ensure the logistics so that all flights can reach host cities in a perfect manner. We need to be sure supply keeps up with the growth in demand.”

Source: Travel Pulse, http://www.travelpulse.com/brazil-set-to-spend-116-million-on-fifa-world-cup-amidst-high-us-interest.html