Rio Olympics 2016 travel: Hotels, flights and Games tickets going cheap as Brazil turmoil and Zika virus put off tourists

Four weeks before the Olympic opening ceremony in Rio, air fares and hotel rates during the Games have plummeted – making the Brazilian city an ideal escape for cash-strapped British holidaymakers. As a bonus, tens of thousands of tickets for events are still unsold, with prices as low as £9.

Research by The Independent shows that air fares to Rio below £1,000 are widely available from Heathrow and other UK airports before and during the 2016 Olympics, which run from 5 to 21 August.

Since airline tickets to Rio for the Games went on sale last September, fares have been pitched high in the hope of maximising profits. British Airways – the only carrier with non-stop flights between the UK and the host city – is sold out on a number of dates. A trip out on 6 August, returning on 23 August, is currently on sale at £2,363. But an indirect flight on the same dates from Gatwick via Madrid and Salvador is £980.

If travellers avoid peak dates, lower prices are available: from London via Spain costs under £900 return, while flying from Birmingham via Frankfurt costs around £950.

As with London 2012, hoteliers’ expectations about filling beds at high rates are proving over optimistic. While many top-end hotels are full, mid-range properties have plenty of rooms at reasonable prices. The Ibis Rio Porto Atlantico, which opens this month for the Games, has rooms available almost every night of the Olympics, with rates below £100 per night for two people.

Double rooms at the central and characterful Hotel Vitoria Minas are being sold through booking.com for £77 per night, including breakfast. Many hostels have beds available around the £20 mark.

Distortions of the travel market to Brazil caused by the OIympics mean that bargains are available elsewhere in the country. The specialist travel agent, Journey Latin America, is offering an 11-day holiday to Brazil taking in Salvador and Bahia for £2,194 including transfers, hotels and international flights with Air Europa from Gatwick as well as domestic flights.

Jenny Powles, the company’s head of marketing, said: “While the attention will be on the Olympic events in Rio, it’s a great idea to take advantage of other areas of Brazil which we expect to be much quieter than usual.”

The pattern of falling prices for travel and accommodation as the Games approach matches the experience in London 2012, as well as Athens (2004) and Sydney (2000).

A key difference in Rio is that tens of thousands of event tickets remain unsold, due to a combination of economic turmoil in Brazil and fears about the spread of Zika virus – which can cause birth defects if contracted by pregnant women.

To reassure international visitors about the danger from Zika, the Brazilian government has announced: “The chance of contracting a Zika infection during the Olympics is the same as winning the lottery.

“At Games time there will be a very small probability (less than 0.00001) of catching a Zika infection.”

But demand for tickets has been much weaker than expected. For the premier athletics finals evening on Sunday 14 August, good seats are available direct from the organisers for £123. Spectators will see the men’s 100m and 400m finals, and the women’s 400 and 1,500m semi-finals.

With seats for many lesser events on sale at £9, and even places for the opening ceremony available, the Olympics are likely to prove a disaster for ticket touts.