With the 2016 Summer Olympics a month away, Rio De Janeiro seems to be in a lot of trouble. According to CNN’s Arwa Dawson and James Masters, police officers took their message to the airport, telling people that safety cannot be guaranteed.
“The state’s police officers vented their anger Monday with a sign saying, ‘Welcome to Hell,’ outside Rio’s main airport,” per the report. “‘Police and firefighters don’t get paid, whoever comes to Rio de Janeiro will not be safe,’ the sign said.”
This is certainly not the image that anyone in Rio wants the city to have. The Olympics will bring tourists from all around the globe. The image of an unsafe city is certainly a potential deterrent.
Carlos Arthur Nuzman, president of the Rio 2016 Organizing Committee, told a different story. “We are ready to start the games,” he said. “They will be a maximum success in this beautiful city of ours,” Nuzman added that the Olympics “could start today.”
One major bonus that Rio has working in its favor is that it just went through a similar event. In 2014, Brazil hosted the World Cup, which also draws tourists from around the globe. While the World Cup is held throughout the country, seven matches, including the final, were held in Rio. Additionally, a 2010 report called Rio a “leading tourist destination of the South hemisphere,” and stated that 2.82 million tourists visited.
So, while the Olympics will certainly be a challenge, the high concentration of tourists should not catch anyone off guard. With people from around the world in attendance and the rest of the world watching, hopefully that experience prevails.