( CNN ) -- Brazil 's national football team may have been smoked on the pitch by Germany , but now government officials are claiming a 2014 FIFA World Cup victory of another sort . According to figures released this week by Brazil 's federal government , the World Cup was a triumph for the country 's transportation and tourism industries . `` We lost the trophy , but Brazil won the World Cup , '' said Aloisio Mercadante , Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff 's chief of staff , in a statement . `` Brazil showed that they know how to win , lose , host and celebrate peace with respect and a 'make yourself at home ' atmosphere that won the world over . '' According to government figures , 1 million foreign tourists visited Brazil during the month-long event , far exceeding its pre-Cup projection of 600,000 visitors coming to the country from abroad . About 3 million Brazilians traveled around the country during the event , just short of the expected 3.1 million . Additionally , according to the government , of the million foreign visitors , `` 95 % of them said they intend to return . '' `` We were saying that we would host the World Cup of World Cups , '' said President Rousseff in a statement . `` Indeed , we staged the World Cup of World Cups . `` We had one problem , our match against Germany . However ... we beat the pessimistic predictions and hosted the World Cup of World Cups with the immense and wonderful contribution of our people . '' Not everyone on board . The government 's assessment of the World Cup 's impact on travel was significantly more enthusiastic than a report last week in the Wall Street Journal that called the event `` a bust for Brazil 's domestic travel industry . '' Citing figures from the Brazilian Airline Association , that story projected total air travel in Brazil falling 11 % to 15 % during the World Cup compared with the same period in 2013 . The story blamed hiked-up prices and large crowds for scaring off domestic tourists . Economists who study the impact of large sporting and other events on local and national economies tend to be less sanguine than the governments that host them . `` Every time you get a World Cup tourist you get one less regular tourist , '' Dr. Andrew Zimbalist , a sports economist and economics professor at Smith College in Massachusetts , tells CNN . `` Generally speaking , the World Cup does not benefit the host 's tourism industry . '' Zimbalist says it 's doubtful Brazil 's international tourism profile will experience long-term positive impact as a result of the World Cup . He points to heightened media coverage around the event that focused on `` unsavory conditions '' facing the country , such as violence , poverty , pollution and social unrest , as illustrated by public demonstrations against the huge amounts of public funds spent on new infrastructure . Furthermore , he said , the World Cup wo n't provide sustained promotion for the smaller of the event 's 12 host cities . The Amazonas city of Manaus is an example . Zimbalist cited public money spent on a stadium that will eventually become underutilized . Rather than inspire coverage of the beauty of the surrounding Amazon , media reports tended to focus on the new facility and the conflict that surrounded its construction . `` It 's very hard to see how that 's going to promote tourism in Manaus , '' says Zimbalist . More where that came from . Turning mega-sporting events such as the World Cup and Olympics into proxy tourism campaigns remains an uncertain enterprise . Some cities continue to reap the benefits of hosting . Barcelona has seen a tenfold increase in tourist numbers since it hosted the 1992 Summer Olympics . Meanwhile , a decade after hosting the 2004 summer games , Olympic venues in Athens have become decaying ghost towns . For now , it 's unlikely there will be enough time to assess the long-term economic impact of the World Cup on Brazil 's economy in advance of the country 's next huge event -- the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro .
Germany ? Who 's Brazil ? Brazilians government calls the World Cup a big success for the country 's travel and tourism industries . 2014 tourists from abroad visited Germany during the event . Economist doubts long-term positive economic impact of the World Cup .