From july 23rd to the 28th, Rio de Janeiro became the heart of the Catholic Church, receiving hundreds of thousand of faithful to pray with pope Francis on
World Youth Day. In only one of the masses, held in Copacabana Beach, there were 3.8 million people. During the week of the event, Rio received 2 million tourists, who spent R$ 1.2 billion (around US$ 520 million). Among this visitors, there were 355 thousand registered pilgrims. 220 thousand were Brazilian and the rest came from 175 countries around the world. Argentinians made for most of this crowd, with 23 thousand pilgrims, followed by Americans (10.8 thousand), Chileans (9.2 thousand) and Italians (7.7 thousand). All of the seven
HI Hostels in Rio received pilgrims, an experience owners, managers and staff will never forget.
Rodrigo Leporage, of
Rio Rockers Hostel, in Copacabana, had all his 30 beds rent to a single group from Fortaleza, in the northeast of Brazil.
"Because they had the house to themselves, they were very relaxed. Everybody was very polite and organized. It was very nice opening the house to a new type of public. They were all amazed by Rio de Janeiro and promessed to come back", said Rodrigo, who evaluated the event as good for the trade, but with some reservations: "I believe thar WYD was really good for the hostels and hotels in Rio, but it also shows that the city needs to improve a lot its organization and infraestructure to receive the megaevents".
In his analysis, Rodrigo refers to problems such as the lack of a good public transportation system, wich made pilgrims stay in lines for hours just to get a train or the subway.
Ari, of
Cidade Maravilhosa Hostel, in Gloria, says that the occupation was beyond what they had expected and that it was a good practice for the other big events Rio will receive, such as the
2014 World Cup and the
2016 Summer Olympic Games.
"It was a good preview of what is to come with the World Cup and the Olympics, where we will have many visitors representing their countries, just like with the WYD. The difference is that, instead of religion, the appel will be a sports competition", said Ari.
Cidade Maravilhosa Hostel received 43 guest for the WYD, sent from the same congregation that rented the rooms in Rio Rockers and Ari was happy with the experience.
"Since the first contacts untill they arrived at the hostel, the group was very organized, cheerful, polite and focused on the event. It was a great experience with a different type of public. I think this was really good for tourism in general and for hostels in particular, since this is the kind of lodging that better met the demands of the pilgrims".
