Two million people to welcome 2010 on Rio’s Copacabana Beach

RIO DE JANEIRO - At least two million people, including 600,000 tourists, are expected to gather late Thursday on Rio de Janeiro’s world-famous Copacabana Beach to welcome 2010.

As in recent years, a fireworks display is to be the main attraction of the beach party, designed to make the most of the southern hemisphere’s summer. There will also be shows from well-known Brazilian pop and rock bands, as well as performances by percussionists from Rio’s samba schools.

According to Rio’s tourism authorities, hotel occupancy in the city stands at 95 percent for the “Reveillon”, as local New Year celebrations are known, with rates as high as 100 percent in Copacabana and adjoining neighbourhoods.

A spokesman for Rio’s tourism organ noted that 80-90 percent of the visitors are Brazilian, since foreign tourism has suffered in the wake of the global financial crisis.

City authorities invested close to $10 million in the celebrations. About $8.6 million of that came from private sponsors.

Some 16 tonnes of fireworks imported from Spain, China and France were set to light up the sky above Copacabana and the sea below for 15 minutes at midnight on Dec 31. The words “love”, “peace”, “family” and “future” are set to be written in the sky during the display.

The year 2009 was very positive for Rio, since the city was chosen to host in 2016 the first Olympic Games ever held in South America.

“We want to reinvent the party, to hold an Olympic Reveillon,” said Rio’s tourism secretary Antonio Pedro Figueira de Mello.