Traditional time of great tourism movement in Ouro Preto (MG), Holy Week brings great expectations of representing the consolidation of the sector’s recovery after the pandemic.
This Thursday (14), the presence of tourists was already prominent in the streets of the historic center, but with a still timid movement. According to traders, the expectation is that the city will be more crowded from this Friday (15).
A major tourist attraction for this holiday, the main Holy Week celebrations begin on Thursday night. The foot washing ceremony takes place in Largo do Rosário and the fire procession leaves the Igreja Matriz de São Francisco de Assis at 11 pm.
Friends Gabriela Garcia, Betânia Figueiredo and FabÃola Figueiredo arrived from Belo Horizonte on Thursday afternoon and plan to stay until Sunday to follow the religious festivities.
“We had never been to Ouro Preto at this time. We want to see the work they do on the floor with the rugs. Besides, the city is always beautiful”, says Betânia.
Cristina Pimenta, owner of the restaurant Seu José and the pub Tenente Pimenta, says that the greatest joy of this holiday is being able to celebrate Holy Week again in person, after two years of strong restrictions.
“This is the most beautiful holiday in the city, it is the one that has the most expression for pollution. In addition to being full of tourists, the city is also full of life”, she says.
For business, she says she is hopeful. And he believes that there will be a strong movement, since many hotels and inns are at high occupancy for the next few days.
“In the restaurant, we have been preparing for Holy Week for two weeks. We increase the team, increase production, extend the opening hours a little to serve everyone. As of tonight, the movement should already be intense “, says Christina.
Flávio Carioca, a partner in a store selling products from Minas Gerais, believes that tourists who come during Holy Week take the opportunity to participate in religious celebrations and also to get to know the city better. According to him, the movement of his establishment has already started to grow this Thursday afternoon, with the arrival of the first tourists.
The business couple Júlio Fuzessy and Tatiana Baya hope that the resumption of tourism will come to stay. The two moved to Ouro Preto to open a brewery, but a few months after the opening, the pandemic greatly damaged the business.
“The impact on tourism was very large here in the municipality. When the pandemic began to ease and tourists returned little by little, we had the tragedy with the rains, which greatly damaged the city”, says Júlio.
According to him, although the resumption of tourism is happening gradually, the international tourist has not yet returned to Ouro Preto as before. National tourists are returning, but with lower consumption than in the past, according to the businessman.
The couple Igor Leonardo and Amanda Sá came from São LuÃs, in Maranhão, to visit the historic cities of Minas. In addition to Ouro Preto, they still intend to visit Mariana, São João Del Rei, Tiradentes and Congonhas.
Civil engineer Eurico Greca also took advantage of the Holy Week holiday to visit Ouro Preto and follow the religious celebrations. He said he was excited to accompany the assembly of rugs for Sunday’s procession.
“Ouro Preto is a very rich city. It’s a great opportunity to see the history of Brazil up close and also to get to know Aleijadinho’s work” says Eurico, who came from Curitiba last Wednesday (13) and intends to stay in Minas until day 24.
In addition, the first impressions of the city were very positive. According to Eurico, the people of Minas have been very welcoming and the city’s cuisine has been a major highlight of the trip.
After Ouro Preto, he and his wife also intend to take advantage of the trip to visit other historic cities in Minas Gerais.
