Foreign tourists and Brazilians visiting the six venues of the Confederations Cup brought more than ?90 million to the local economy during the 15 days of the competition.
The calculation, made by Embratur, was based on the number of tourists and the length of stay of each visitor in the six cities that were hosting the games, as well as money spent by the delegations and teams participating in the tournament.
The tournament was, however, rocked by political unrest as hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to complain about the cost of the upcoming FIFA World Cup.
A total of 13,759 tickets were sold to foreigners and 111,569 to Brazilians.
According to Embratur, foreign tourists stayed on average for about ten days in the city, whereas Brazilians stayed for three days in the locality of the game.
?These numbers show how mega-events bring a direct return on investment to the local economy.
?A significant portion of these resources goes directly into the pockets of local shopkeepers, street vendors and small businesses?, said Fl?vio Dino, president of Embratur.
?The world is getting used to seeing huge mass demonstrations as a democratic and healthy phenomenon.
?Brazil, one of the largest democracies in the world, could not remain an exception?, stated Dino.
He pointed out that the President, Dilma Rousseff, announced last week that she will call for a referendum to allow the nation to decide whether it wants a reform of the country?s political structure.
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