Brazil’s Carnival was not just about wild partying, heavy drinking and samba dancing.
The country’s huge Carnival celebrations this week also provided key lessons for World Cup organisers trying to prepare the nation for football’s showcase event in two years, and authorities are happy with the results.
With tourists jamming many of the World Cup host cities, Carnival served as a test run for authorities seeking to evaluate their newly implemented World Cup projects, from infrastructure improvements to public safety programs to medical services.
Hoping to gather valuable information to be used in 2014, organisers watched closely as millions of tourists travelled the country for the festival, just like they will do during the World Cup in 2014.
“We are definitely prepared for the World Cup,” said Merina Aragao, a tourism official in Salvador, the northeastern city with Brazil’s second-largest Carnival celebrations behind Rio de Janeiro. “After organising this grandiose party which is the Carnival in Salvador, we will certainly be able to handle the challenges of the World Cup.”
The city put in place many of the actions that it will try to replicate during the World Cup, with more than 10,000 city workers involved in areas such as security, cleaning, health and emergency services. Tests were also made to accommodate the large number of media expected during the monthlong football tournament.
Salvador will host six World Cup matches, including a quarterfinal. It’s also still in contention to host matches during the 2013 Confederations Cup.
Officials said more than two million people attended the street Carnival in Salvador, including 500,000 local and international tourists.
The nearby city of Recife, which will host five World Cup matches, took advantage of the nearly 1.5 million revellers attending its traditional Galo da Madrugada street party to test a series of public health actions and emergency services. Representatives from nearly all of the 12 host cities were sent to observe Recife’s preparations.
The three levels of government were involved in the planning and a new monitoring system was implemented to evaluate the city’s response to emergencies. Nearly 200 people were selected to gather information which could be used during the World Cup, Brazil’s health ministry said.
“It was an excellent Carnival,” Recife mayor Joao da Costa told local media. “The infrastructure that we put in place worked well. Our feeling is of mission accomplished.”
More than 700,000 tourists travelled to Recife during Carnival, the city said, including more than 40,000 from abroad.
The Brazilian government and World Cup organisers expect 3 million tourists in 2014, with nearly 600,000 coming from outside the country.
Rio de Janeiro alone should get more than 1.2 million tourists – 400,000 from abroad – during the monthlong World Cup. In the weeklong Carnival celebrations which officially ended Wednesday, 850,000 local and foreign visitors were in the city, which will host the World Cup final at Maracana.
With the World Cup in mind, the city installed last November a new world-class command center to help authorities monitor traffic, flooding and other problems that may arise in the city of nearly 6 million people. The city’s massive block parties and the traditional Carnival parades at the Sambadrome gave the new command center its first big test.
Rio will also host the first Olympics held in South America in 2016, and organisers took advantage of Carnival to deliver the city’s renovated Sambadrome as the games’ first sports venue. It will host the archery competitions and will mark the marathon’s start and finish.
The Sambadrome was upgraded throughout its 0.8 kilometre stretch where samba schools parade their scantily clad women and colourful floats, and four new grandstands were added to increase its capacity from 60,000 to 72,500.