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Winter tourism could generate R$7,4 billion in Rio's economy by 2026
Published on 01/07/2026 - 16:03 | Updated
Rio de Janeiro City Hall estimates real growth of 7,8% compared to the winter of 2025 - Alexandre Macieira / Riotur Winter in Rio de Janeiro, increasingly established as a season for major events and tourist attractions, promises to boost the city's economy in 2026. According to the Rio de Janeiro City Hall, through Riotur and the Secretariats of Economic Development and Tourism, tourists could generate R$ 7,4 billion for the city's economy during the main winter months of 2026 – July, August, and September.
– Winter in Rio has ceased to be a low season and has become a period of intense tourist and economic activity. Rio offers a unique combination of major events, cultural, sporting and leisure attractions, capable of attracting visitors from all over Brazil and abroad throughout the year. This economic outlook demonstrates the strength of tourism as a driver of development, job creation and opportunities for various sectors of the city – says Bernardo Fellows, president of Riotur.
According to data from the Rio de Janeiro Tourism Observatory – SMTUR-Rio, 2,7 million tourists visited Rio last winter, with 16,1% being international tourists and 83,9% being domestic tourists. The expectation is that the city will receive 2,8 million domestic and international tourists during the winter months of 2026 – a 5% increase in domestic tourists and a 15% increase in international tourists.
– Rio is a world-renowned destination and always in high demand. Furthermore, this period of milder temperatures guarantees the best visibility of the year for visiting Christ the Redeemer and the Sugarloaf Mountain cable car – comments Daniela Maia, the city's Secretary of Tourism.
In the winter of 2025, tourists generated R$ 6,9 billion for the Rio de Janeiro economy. In this sense, a real increase of 7,8% is expected this year compared to the same period last year. According to the Municipal Secretary of Economic Development, Osmar Lima, although tourists still choose Rio de Janeiro mainly for its beaches, the city has expanded its capacity to attract visitors by diversifying its attractions and strengthening its calendar of business events.
– The city currently offers a wide variety of leisure and business options, with a dynamic program that varies throughout the year and is distributed across different regions of the city. This has driven the growth of tourism in recent years, both in the national and international markets – emphasizes Osmar Lima, Municipal Secretary of Economic Development.
The projected increase is based on the diversity and high volume of events held in Rio de Janeiro between June 21 and September 22, 2026, bringing together sporting, cultural, musical, literary, and innovation attractions. Among them, highlights include the Rio Marathon, the Book Biennial, the Energy Summit, the Ouro Preto Vale Festival Orchestra, the June festivals, Expo Rio Turismo, the Sabores da Orla Award, as well as festivals such as the Winter Festival, Rio Innovation Week, the Rio International Half Marathon, the World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships, the Mondial de la Bière, among others. These events attract both national and international audiences, boosting the economy and reinforcing Rio's position as one of Brazil's main tourist destinations, even during the winter.
The calculation of economic impact from tourists was based on the average spending of R$ 2.208 per Brazilian tourist and R$ 4.494 per foreign visitor, according to the study “Tourism Panorama – Domestic and International Tourism 2025”, by the Fecomércio Institute for Research and Analysis (IFec RJ). Spending by domestic tourists was updated to values from May 2026, deflated by the IPCA (Brazilian Consumer Price Index). The value of spending by international tourists was converted to US dollars for the period of the research and updated using the exchange rate of May 2026.
It is worth highlighting that SMDE has a Technical Cooperation Agreement with IFec RJ for conducting economic studies, including on tourism. Tourist spending includes the sectors of accommodation, lodging, restaurants, bars, purchase of food and beverages for consumption (outside of restaurants and bars), fuel, transportation, internal travel, entertainment/leisure (festivals, tourist attractions), telecommunications (telephone, internet) and purchase of products (clothing, souvenirs).
