Introduction
The FIFA World Cup in Brazil took place from the 12th of June to the 13th of July 2014. Attracting approximately one million foreign tourists in just one month (Loretta, 2014) it was without a doubt the major global sporting event of the year. Discussions about holding such an event in yet another developing country where controversial from the start and with regard to the 2016 Olympic Games also held in Brazil, they still are.
In this essay I want to evaluate to what extent Brazil as a tourism destination benefitted from the World Cup – or not – and how this affects the destination in the long term. Therefore, I firstly provide three positive impacts on Brazil, of economic, social and environmental nature. This is followed by three negative impacts, divided into the same categories. This is followed by an application of theory about hallmark events and a future perspective of Brazil as a tourist attraction. In the end, I conclude this essay by summarizing the main aspects and giving my personal opinion on the developments described before.
Body
If we compare the total revenue of the World Cup with the total costs of the tournament, coming from investments such as infrastructure or stadium construction, we can calculate that the economical boost should be around 2.6 Billion Dollars (Harris, 2014). Also, the fact that one million foreign tourists were travelling the country in this period may not be underestimated. A positive experience of local culture and interaction with the residents can contribute largely towards the legacy of such events. According to Armstrong (2014) 95% of the foreign tourists reported that the World Cup inspired them to spend a holiday in the host country again in the future. Although this estimation sounds a little bit excessive, it proves the point that visiting the country was perceived positive by the vast majority of