Feature: Olympics to boost tourism in Rio

With less than one year to go before the 2016 Olympic Games opening ceremony, Rio de Janeiro has been preparing itself for going back under the spotlight and attracting numerous tourists from around the world.

As the second largest city in Brazil and the former capital of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and Algarves, Rio de Janeiro has always been one of the most popular tourism destinations in South America, with its abundant historical monuments, the fantastic landscape and world famous carnival events.

The most famous tourist attraction, Christ the Redeemer, the 30-meter tall statue located at the peak of the Corcovado mountain overlooking the city of Rio, has become a symbol of Christianity and an icon of the country. It is now regarded as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

During 2008 and 2014, the city's tourism sector witnessed rapid revenue growth from 1.264 billion U.S. dollars to 2.104 billion U.S. dollars from the overseas market, according to Rio's research center and tourism studies (Riocepetur), which is linked to the city's government.

In the past seven years, Argentina, U.S., France, Chile, UK, Germany, Italy and Portugal have provided the most tourists.

The World Cup in 2014 was a huge boost to local tourism development. Over 5.9 million international tourists visited the city last year, among them, 2.241 million visited Christ the Redeemer.

Paulo Villela, the marketing director of RIOTUR, the city's tourism authority, said that Rio, as a mature tourism destination, is striving to improve the facilities and services to give tourists better experiences.

In order to share and learn from other countries' experiences, Villela visited London during the 2012 Olympics and was impressed by the convenient information services that London made available to visitors.

There are 15 tourist information centers in Rio, and more centers will be opened during the Olympic Games next year, according to Villela. By the end of 2015, 500 posts will be erected in main tourism areas to give travel information updates. Multilingual pamphlets will also be available for tourists and hotels.

With six years experiences in the sector, Villela knows what the Olympics mean to the local tourism. "It's the golden opportunity to display the city to the world. If the visitors have good experiences during the Olympics, public praise will keep attracting tourists to our city even after the games."

The Olympic Games will greatly promote the city's development, especially benefiting the hotels and transportation system, said Alfredo Lopes, the president of Rio Convention and Visitors Bureau (Rio CVB).

To meet the demand during the Olympic Games, many hotels are under construction in the Olympic area like the Barra da Tijuca neighborhood in the west of the city.

At present 42,000 rooms have been completed and prepared for visitors. In addition to hotels, major airline companies like Lufthansa, Alitalia and Emirates have added new direct flights to Rio from other big cities.

"As the administrator for the city's tourism, we value the legacy that the Olympic Games can leave for our city. Keeping stable growth in tourism after the Olympic Games is our major goal," said Villela. Endi