Rio de Janeiro expects 3 million people in Copacabana

The mayor of the city, Marcelo Crivella, presented the details of the year farewell party at Copacabana Beach, which has been held since the 1980s. The celebration is one of the city's festive landmarks, and is organized in joint between the public and private sectors, with a call that last year reached 2.8 million people.
"There is no party in the world that brings together three million people, such as Copacabana Beach and we are working to overcome the numbers of 2019, and we will achieve it," Crivella told a news conference, accompanied by the authorities of the city's tourism promotion entity, Riotur, which estimates the cost of the organization at $ 2.2 million.
The celebration at Copacabana Beach will begin on December 31 at 7:00 p.m., with the first artistic shows. This year there will be four scenarios along the waterfront, one more than in the previous editions. The main stage will be in front of the Belmond Copacabana Palace hotel and the rest in Leme (Rua Anchieta), on Hilario de Gouveia street and between Bolívar and Barão de Ipanema streets.
The main stage will have the presence of artists who will play live and the rest of DJs to cheer the crowd; The novelty will be the presence of artists of the genre "gospel" as evangelical or Christian music is known, along with rhythms such as pop, funk and samba. "For the first time we will give space to the song" gospel ", which in our city is very successful on the radio," said Crivella, also an evangelical pastor and singer-songwriter of Christian music.
The artists who will animate the evening will be, in that order, Anayle Sullivan (gospel), guitarist Allyrio Mello, followed by the sambistas Diogo Nogueira and Ferrugem, who will star in the countdown to the traditional fireworks show. Then DJ Marlboro and the Mangueira samba school will perform.
The motto of the party will be, "Love at every sight", an allegory to the natural and architectural beauties of Rio, declared by UNESCO and the International Union of Architects as the World Capital of Architecture 2020.
For tourists, the government of the "wonderful city" invites them to film and photograph their visits to the main attractions and monuments of Rio and spread them on social networks with the hashtag #vemprorio.
At midnight on the 31st, the traditional fireworks display in Copacabana will last 14 minutes. The pyrotechnic show will feature a synchronized soundtrack, developed especially by musician Daniel Lopes. For the launch of the fireworks, 10 barges will be installed at sea with 16.9 tons of fireworks.
Along the Atlantic Avenue (which measures about four kilometers) seven giant screens will be installed so that the public can follow the musical shows. There will also be 16 sound communication towers, 800 chemical toilets, four medical stations and 30 towers of the Military Police.
And for those who cannot enjoy the event in the first person, the municipal government will broadcast the event live on their social networks for the first time.
According to a survey conducted by the Hotels Rio hotel association, the average occupancy of hotels in Rio de Janeiro, until the first week of December, is approximately 75% for packages from December 28 to January 1, but it is expected that exceed 90% on New Year's Eve night. In the southern zone, 86% occupancy is already reported in the first days of the month in neighborhoods such as Ipanema, Leblon, Flamengo and Botafogo.
To drain the influx of tourists in Copacabana on the night of 31, the local government and hoteliers organized celebrations with fireworks and stages in nine other neighborhoods of the city such as Barra da Tijuca, Flamenco, Isla Paqueta, Governor Island, Madureira Park, Sepetiba, Guaratiba, Ramos (Piscinão) and Penha.

The stage that will be mounted in front of the Belmond Copacabana Palace hotel for the 2019 farewell will not be dismantled on January 1: it will remain standing for a pre-carnival party that will take place on January 12 with the presentation of brooms and Samba musicians The idea - according to the organizers - is to extend the New Year celebrations and advance the carnival celebrations to keep tourists interested in visiting the city.