Rocketing room costs have replaced security as the main concern for potential attendees at development gathering, writes TOM HENNIGAN
WHEN RIO de Janeiro hosted the first Earth Summit in 1992, the major concern of those attending was security in a city where shanty towns were controlled by heavily armed drug gangs.
Twenty years later, the traffickers have been chased from many of the slums. Now the main preoccupation for countries planning to send delegations to next month’s United Nations Summit on Sustainable Development is the exorbitant prices being charged by Rio’s hotels.
The cost of hotel rooms during Rio+20, so-called because it marks the 20th anniversary of the first global environmental summit, has skyrocketed, with some rooms quintupling in price for the duration of the conference. A survey by Brazil’s state news agency found average room prices in the city during the event were €650, leading to a diplomatic outcry from foreign officials.
The expense of putting up attendees saw the European Parliament first slash and then abandon plans to send its delegation to the summit.
“The huge increase in the estimated cost of attending the summit is simply not justifiable, especially at a time when many Europeans are faced with economic hardship,” said the parliament’s environment committee chairman, Matthias Groote.
Other delegations are also reportedly cutting back on the number of attendees to control costs. “Higher prices are not unprecedented for this sort of event but I have never seen it reach this level,” said an organiser for one European delegation who did not want his country identified.
A diplomatic source in Brasília familiar with the preparations said that Brazil’s president Dilma Rousseff had been “getting it in the neck” about price-gouging during her calls to foreign leaders to try and persuade them to attend: “They are afraid this could deflect from the work of the conference itself.”
The summit was always likely to cause a stampede for hotel rooms. Rio has 33,000 beds available for visitors, according to the Brazilian Hotel Industry Association, while Rio+20’s organisers expect up to 50,000 to attend next month’s event.
The problem has been exacerbated by the decision to shift the meeting from early to late June in order to accommodate the British queen’s diamond jubilee celebrations.
The rescheduling means the summit now clashes with several major conventions being held in the city, further pressuring the city’s guest accommodation.
With the cost of most hotel rooms beyond the means of many of the environmental activists planning to attend the summit, Rio’s city government has tried to mobilise the city’s population to help provide cheaper accommodation, launching a website where visitors can book rooms in private homes.
While Rio’s mayor Eduardo Paes has admitted that “some hotels abused [the situation]”, he defended the city’s capacity to host mega-events.
Next year, Rio will host the Vatican’s World Youth Day, followed by the football World Cup final in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016.
The criticism of hotel pricing for the event has sparked a reaction from Brazil’s government. Earlier this month, the senate held hearings on the matter and now the foreign ministry has intervened directly to push down prices.
It has forced the booking agency it selected to handle bookings for foreign delegations to drop its 25 per cent booking fee. Hotels also agreed to allow attendees to book only for the nights they were in Rio, rather than force them to buy packages for the duration of the entire summit, which had caused a shortage of rooms despite the high prices being charged.
Organisers say this will lead to greater availability and savings of 25-60 per cent. But the moves have come too late for some, with sources at the European Parliament saying it is not reconsidering the cancellation of its delegation’s trip.