by Brian Major
Last updated: 3:02 PM ET, Wed July 16, 2014
PHOTO: A Brazilian boy plays on a hill overlooking Beria-Rio stadium in Porto Alegre, one of several built for the World Cup. (Photo by Brian Major)
Okay let's confirm one key fact at the outset: Germany, and not Brazil, won the 2014 FIFA World Cup tournament. While Brazil's A Seleção did reach the semifinal round, the failure of "The Selection" to win the nation's sixth World Cup title, climaxed by its torturous 7-1 thrashing at the hands of the eventual champion, was not the result for which millions of loyal partisans had so ardently yearned. Instead it emerged as a monumental home-soil disappointment for this soccer-worshipping nation.
Yet from a tourism perspective, Brazil's hosting of the 2014 World Cup was a triumphant success. Widespread concerns over potential social demonstrations, the readiness of several new stadiums and transportation infrastructure and the price and availability of airfare and accommodations to serve the millions of travelers flooding into and around the country during the event failed to develop into significant problems. Even fears of unrest following Brazil's one-sided loss to Germany were unfounded.
Instead, Brazil enjoyed one of the most successful World Cup events in recent memory (again, from the tourism perspective). Here are five reasons why Brazil was a big winner at the 2014 FIFA World Cup:
Brazil attracted millions of visitors and created tremendous interest in travel to the country: One million foreign tourists visited Brazil during the World Cup period between June 12 and July 13, and 95 percent said they plan to return, according to an assessment provided this week by Dilma Rousseff, Brazil's president. That's 67 percent more than the 600,000 tourists Brazil's tourism board predicted would attend. Also more than 60 percent of attendees were visiting the country for the first time. A comparative 310,000 foreigners traveled to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup.
Also three million Brazilian tourists travelled around the country during the event, while 16.7 million passengers used the country's airports. A total of 3.4 million people attended matches at the 12 Brazilian stadiums, and five million people attended FIFA's Fan Fest events. "Brazil showed to be capable of ensuring infrastructure, security, telecommunications and appropriate services to tourists, national squads and heads of states who attended the event," said Rousseff.
North Americans were noteworthy for their unprecedented World Cup embrace. U.S. and Canadian residents purchased more than 200,000 World Cup match tickets according to FIFA, more than any other country outside of Brazil. Throughout the tournament American fans and travelers, including booster groups like American Outlaws, were conspicuous on Rio de Janiero's Copacabana beach and in several of the other cities that hosted Cup matches.
Added Rousseff, "We were saying that we would host the World Cup of World Cups. Indeed, we staged the World Cup of World Cups. We had one problem, our match against Germany. However we beat the pessimistic predictions…with the immense and wonderful contribution of our people." Here are five reasons Brazil tourism won the 2014 World Cup:
The country has created positive momentum for the 2016 Summer Olympics: Rio's hosting of the Olympic games is less than two years away, and with its strong showing at this year's World Cup, the country has proven it can handle global sporting events.
"We had a strict plan in place to follow up the construction works of stadiums," said Aldo Rebelo, Brazil's sports minister. "We controlled every delivery step of each ground. Therefore, we had a buffer zone in relation to what was being done," he said. "The World Cup as a sporting event is a success."
"We're one of the few countries able to stage such a complex event, providing quality infrastructure and organization, with such a wonderful people, who welcomed everyone so well," added Luiz Alberto Figueiredo, Brazil's minister of external relations.
Brazil scored on social and broadcast media: The 2014 World Cup generated one billion Facebook posts, likes and comments in just the first half of the tournament, making it the most talked-about event in the social media site's 10 years in business, said a Reuters analysis. Facebook's World Cup soccer discussions between June 12 and June 29 involved 220 million people. "People are having conversations in a really unprecedented scale," said the company's director of partnerships.
The World Cup also generated 618,725 Twitter Tweets per minute during the July 13 final match, a new record according to Twitter officials quoted in news reports. That total surpassed another 2014 World Cup record, namely the 580,166 Tweets per minute generated during Germany's semifinal beating of Brazil. Even U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann took to Twitter to compliment Brazil on its hosting of the event.
The tournament's broadcast media success may have been even more impressive considering soccer still lags behind professional U.S. baseball, basketball and football in popularity. The June 22 match between the U.S. and Portugal in Manaus drew 24.7 million U.S. television viewers, more than this year's National Basketball Association playoffs (which peaked at 17.9 million viewers) and Major League Baseball's 2013 World Series (11.3 million).
Brazil's humility offered a positive view of its society: Despite a brutal loss in a much-anticipated match on their home ground, Brazil's citizens largely failed to offer the sort of violent public displays or petulant disturbances that have followed even winning championship efforts by teams from professional sports cities around the world.
There were reports of minor skirmishes, including a handful of fights between Brazilians and Argentines around Copacabana beach following Germany's 1-0 victory over Argentina. Police also reportedly used tear gas to disperse some fans outside Rio's Maracana stadium. Otherwise there were no riots, vandalism or mass bad behavior following the national team's wrenching loss to Germany.
"We lost the trophy, but Brazil won the World Cup," said Aloisio Mercadante, Rousseff's chief of staff. "Brazil showed that they know how to win, lose, host and celebrate peace with respect and a 'make yourself at home' atmosphere."
Argentina did not win the World Cup: In the eyes of Brazilians, this was the only result that could have generated anywhere near of the joy that would have unleashed had the country won an unprecedented sixth title. Brazilians were spared a soul-crushing World Cup win by their South American neighbor and soccer arch-rival in the Maracana, considered Brazil's soccer Mecca. As one Brazilian told the Mercopress.com website, "If Argentina had won they would have made fun of us for years."
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