Brazil’s favourite destination for New Year’s Eve 2019

Rio de Janeiro is the most searched destination by Brazilian travellers to ring in 2019.

This is according to the Rio Convention & Vistors Bureau press office, which cites evidence to the statement through a survey from the Kayak travel planning website. According to data released by the platform, the city, which last year was ranked third, took the lead and surpassed traditional destinations such as Miami (6^th) and Orlando (11^th), in the US, which led the ranking in late 2017.

Other Brazilian cities also gained prominences, such as Fortaleza, Salvador, Recife and even São Paulo. As for destinations such as Paris, New York and Santiago, which were highly ranked last year, they do not even appear in this year’s list.

For the website, the rise of the dollar was one of the main reasons for the prominence achieved by the national destinations, since visiting destinations in North America and Europe became a lot more expensive. In addition, the excess number of extended holidays made Brazilians choose shorter trips.

According to the Brazilian Association of Hotel Industry, hotel occupancy throughout the country can reach 85% in New Year’s Eve 2019.

In more popular areas, such as Rio de Janeiro, Balneário Camboriú and Florianópolis (SC), occupancy is already higher than 90%. In the first half of December, the average rate in Rio has already reached 85%, higher than in 2017.

The highest demand is focused in the Flamengo neighbourhood areas, with 91%, followed by Ipanema and Leblon, with 89%. Barra da Tijuca has 87% reserved rooms and, for the first time, their demand is higher than Copacabana’s, with 85% of rooms sold to date.