Tourism in Rio de Janeiro: From the triad beach-soccer-carnival to complexity of contemporary tourism experience

Abstract

Tourism has always earned a distinguished place within the context of Rio de Janeiro. Considered one of the most beautiful tourism destinations in the world, the city begun its process of touristification in the nineteenth century, but only from de 1990s on it has been able to escape from the stigma of tourism based on the triad beach-soccer-carnival and be included in the context of worldwide tourism circuit as a complex and multifaceted destination, capable of receiving large and relevant international events. This process of city retouristification has been followed by an urban restructuring movement as well as the spreading of tourism activity through the geographical area of the city, configuring new urban tourism functional areas.