COP30 in Belém: “Love motels” and cruise ships to accommodate delegations
With nearly 50,000 participants expected to attend the World Climate Conference three months away, soaring hotel rates threaten to limit the number of visitors from some countries. Faced with a shortage of beds, the Amazonian city is improvising solutions.
A pole dancing bar at the foot of the bed, leopard wallpaper, a ceiling covered in mirrors and a red heart-shaped Jacuzzi… Usually, the rooms of Brazilian love motels , billed by the hour, are the setting for romantic rendezvous, reunions between passionate lovers or clandestine liaisons.
But as a shortage of affordable housing threatens to complicate the hosting of participants at the UN-sponsored Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP30) from November 10 to 21 in Belém, capital of the Amazonian state of Pará, these establishments are organizing to compensate for the lack of space by renovating a good portion of their 2,500 rooms, reports The New York Times .
“This is not the first time that an emergency situation has forced Brazil's motels to adapt to a different clientele,” the headline recalls, citing renovations ahead of the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Rio Olympics.
But this year in Belém, the owners are targeting “a different type of client, who come for business rather than pleasure” and are trying to make their establishments “a little less sexy.” Circular beds are being replaced by classic models and suggestive paintings are being removed from the walls. Only the
Courrier International
