In a previous article we discussed the UEFA Euro 2021 impact on host markets in Europe, now we focus on how 2021 Copa América affected Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia during the later rounds of the tournament. Copa América, originally scheduled to take place last year in Argentina and Colombia, was held from 13 June through 10 July 2021.
During the quarterfinal between Uruguay and Colombia on 3 July, Brasilia registered its second highest occupancy level (53.8 %) of 2021. Hotel occupancy the day before and after the match was just 36%. For comparison, on 3 July, Rio de Janeiro registered an occupancy level of just 45.3% during the quarterfinal between Brazil and Chile. The market didn’t see a huge different between the day before (41.5%) and day of the match.
During the semifinals, Brazil’s victory over Peru on 6 July helped occupancy reach 45.3% in Rio de Janeiro, however, it was Argentina’s 4-3 defeat of Colombia on 7 July that had the most noticeable effect as Brasilia hotels reported 53.8% occupancy.
With the third-place playoff between Colombia and Peru played in Brasilia, and Rio de Janeiro hosting the final, performance in both markets once again offered insight into the influence on hotel performance. However, it is important to note that these two fixtures took place on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Saturday has already been substantially higher in recent months because of leisure demand.
STR’s preliminary data offers an indication that the trend continued for the two remaining fixtures. However, occupancy was understandably more pronounced on the day of the final. Rio de Janeiro’s occupancy reached 45.1% on 11 July. That was down substantially from 10 July, the day before the final (66.8%). Meanwhile, Brasilia saw just a 37.0% occupancy on 10 July.
