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Rio City Hall presents “Rio all year round” calendar and projects revenue of R$1,7 billion from events and tourism by 2028
Published on 24/04/2025 - 15:56 | Updated on 25/04/2025 - 14:37
Rio has hosted a series of important events in recent years - Beth Santos/City Hall Rio de Janeiro City Hall launched the “Rio all year long” calendar on Thursday (24/04), a new platform that brings together the city’s main events in one place. At the ceremony for industry professionals, held at the Roxy Dinner Show in Copacabana, Mayor Eduardo Paes and Riotur president Bernardo Fellows also released a study of the same name, which predicts revenue of R$1,7 billion in taxes related to tourism and events between 2025 and 2028.
Guests and the press saw first-hand the new calendar, now available on the Riotur website (riotur.rio). The page will be updated constantly and aims to facilitate planning for residents, tourists and event producers.
— It is a very important initiative. The consolidation of a calendar allows planning and allows the different sectors of the economy to be better structured — hotels, houses like the Roxy, etc. The government can prepare itself better and take important measures in the area of security. All of this helps us organize things and changes the narrative about the city — declared Mayor Eduardo Paes.
Rio, which already includes major events such as New Year's Eve in Copacabana and Carnival in its annual calendar, has hosted a series of important events in various categories in recent years.
According to the study released this Thursday, “Rio o Ano Inteiro” (Rio the Whole Year), developed in partnership between Riotur and the Municipal Secretariat for Economic Development (SMDE), the city of Rio collected, between 2021 and 2024, more than R$1,2 billion in ISS (Services Tax) from services related to tourism and events. The projection is for growth of more than 40% in the next four years, from 2025 to 2028, reaching the mark of R$1,7 billion.
– Rio de Janeiro is increasingly consolidating itself as the capital of major events. Whether it’s Carnival, G20, Web Summit or historic concerts like Madonna and now Lady Gaga, the city has shown its ability to welcome the world with safety, structure and spectacle. It generates jobs, economic growth and international projection. It’s not just a show — it’s Rio taking its rightful place: as the main stage for Brazil and the world – said Vice Mayor Eduardo Cavaliere.
In 2024 alone, driven by Madonna's show in Copacabana, the city raised R$424,7 million — an increase of 12,9% compared to 2023. The survey also shows that, adding formal jobs and individual microentrepreneurs (MEIs), the events sector has more than 40 thousand jobs, according to data from CAGED and the Entrepreneur Portal.
The year 2024 was the best in the historical series: the collection of ISS from Events (entertainment, leisure, entertainment and similar services) reached almost R$ 160 million, equivalent to 2,5% of the total collected from ISS in the city, the highest percentage ever recorded. This value represents a growth of 62,8% in relation to the pre-pandemic period (2019), or an increase of R$ 60,9 million. Considering the sum of ISS from Events and ISS from Tourism, the two sectors together accounted for 6,7% of all municipal collections in 2024.
In terms of event volume, Rio hosted more than 2024 events in 4 — all authorized by the City Hall, through AEGE|GBP (Executive Advisory for Major Events) and Riotur — which brought together an estimated audience of more than 20 million people and an estimated economic turnover of approximately R$20 billion. This number includes mega-events such as Carnival, New Year's Eve, Madonna's concert and Rock in Rio.
— The official Rio events calendar that we are launching today is a portrait of a vibrant city that exudes culture and diversity, embraces innovation, fosters new businesses, is excited about sports and celebrates life. A city that is a symbol of Brazil to the world. In addition to centralizing the programming, the unified events calendar allows people to organize themselves in advance and directly contributes to attracting tourists — highlighted Bernardo Fellows, president of Riotur.
The study also details that Carnival was the biggest highlight in terms of attendance in 2024: street blocks, Samba School parades and other carnival events totaled 8 million participants, equivalent to 38,9% of the total. Next came:
– Other events held in Rio: 5,3 million (25,6%)
– New Year’s Eve: 5 million (25,6%)
– Madonna concert: 1,6 million (7,8%)
– Rock in Rio: 700 thousand (3,4%)
Considering only events outside the mega-event category, the average attendance was 1,5 people per event. Of the total held, 63,5% were concentrated in three main types: Entertainment (35,4%), Fairs (19,7%) and Sports (8,5%).
The City Hall expects real growth of 41,1% in revenue by 2028, further consolidating Rio as a global destination for major events.
– The economy of the city of Rio is based on the services sector. Having a consolidated calendar of events, boosting the economy in historically weaker months and fostering leisure and business tourism, is essential for the economic development of our city. New Year's Eve, Carnival, the Olympics, the G20 Summit and Web Summit Rio are just some examples of our ability to organize and bring more and more cultural and business events here – highlighted Osmar Lima, municipal secretary of Economic Development.
The full study is available at Rio Economic Observatory.
The calendar of events for 2025 can be found at Riotur website.
