"Rio de Janeiro kicked off the holiday season with an 80-metre floating Christmas tree off Botafogo Beach, dazzling crowds along the shoreline. Footage captured on Sunday shows a spectacle celebrating the inauguration, with thousands of people lining the streets to watch the fireworks display. Once switched on, the structure cycles through a spectrum of colours, creating a vivid backdrop framed by Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain. "Seeing the tree and fireworks already brings that warm feeling in your heart, knowing that Christmas is just around the corner, and feeling that Christmas spirit amidst the happiness Christmas brings us," a visitor said. "It becomes one more tourist attraction that draws a lot of attention, and I believe now, toward the end of the year, this tree will attract even more tourists," added a second. The tree, roughly the height of a 30-storey building, features 2.3 million LED lights, 1,300 strobe lights and 10,000 streamers. Placed about 100 metres offshore, it can be visible from more than 700 metres along the beach. It sits on a reinforced barge designed to withstand coastal winds and weighs as much as around 1,800 cars. Organisers expect up to 650,000 visitors this season. City authorities deployed several measures, including underground walkways, the closure of Avenida das Nacoes Unidas, 105 surveillance cameras, and hundreds of sanitation workers along the streets. On weekends, visitors can enjoy free mini‑shows, live music, and a choreographed Water Ballet across the bay, running every 30 minutes. A festive food village also opened on Sunday, operating from afternoon to midnight."