Tourism, leisure and sports mega-events in Brazil: experience report on the 2016 Olympics

Abstract

Way beyond sports, it is estimated that sports mega-events in the period of 2007-2016 have brought to Brazil an undeniable impact in terms of legacy for various sectors, including tourism, leisure and hospitality. The purpose of this paper is to report on experiences during the Rio 2016 Olympics. The analysis was performed during the sports mega-event: from August 5 to August 21, 2016. For that, an exploratory research of a qualitative approach was made through a participant observation, using the insertion of the researcher where the real facts were given, in this case the city of Rio de Janeiro and also the city of São Paulo, one of the soccer cities. This insertion allowed us to confront the reality of the events with a series of theoretical postulates and hypothesis formulated before the Olympic Games, serving as an excellent exercise to understand the complexity in the accomplishment of this sports mega-event.