The Olympic Park in Rio is ready for the games

Brazil is getting ready to hold the first Olympic and Paralympic Games in South America, with the opening ceremony just ten days away.

Following the success of the 2014 World Cup, the country has already shown that Brazil is a culturally rich country, with a friendly and welcoming population.

As well as regular tourists visiting, approximately 300,000 international tourists are expected to visit the events, with begin with the opening ceremony on August 5th.

Security planning for the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games follows an integrated performance model, already successfully adopted for other events hosted in Brazil. 

Security forces from more than 50 countries and institutions, including Interpol, will form part of the International Police Cooperation Centre.

Some 85,000 members of the Armed Forces, Federal Police and National Public Security Force will be involved in maintaining public safety measures, defence and intelligence.

However, for every Olympic Games held, it is not just about the events themselves, but the legacy left long after the medals have been awarded.

For every R$1 invested in sports facilities for the Olympics, another R$5 are applied in projects for locals to benefit from.

Many of the venues will be transformed into entertainment spaces.

For instance, The Olympic Park will house temporary facilities, and the Arena of the Future will be dismantled and transformed into four municipal schools.

Additionally, there will be improvements in airports, urban mobility, international signage, security, and training in receiving international tourists on-going.

To mark one month until the start of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, a new museum and digital centre in the north of the city opened its doors to the public on Tuesday July 5th.

Visitors can use state-of-the-art virtual reality technologies to ‘visit’ Olympic venues and tourist attractions all over the city.

Image courtesy: Embratur (The Brazilian Tourist Board)