Brazil
is expecting a tourism boost from next year's Olympic Games. But there
is a barrier: visas. The good news is Brazil's Congress has just
approved a waiver system that will benefit visitors from a number of
countries, including China.
Brazil
is a well-known tourist destination, but Latin America's biggest
country doesn't receive many visitors: less than ten percent if compared
to the United States.
Charisse
Afrane, a New Yorker, is visiting Rio for the first time. She tried a
Carnival costume during a tour to Rio's Samba stadium and is having the
time of her life, but says it was not cheap or easy to come to Brazil:
"It
cost 160 dollars to get the visa and it took about five weeks to
complete the process, so you have to start in advance in order to have
all the documents you need to travel," said a tourist named Charisse
Afrane.
But
many tourists will likely not need a visa as Brazil's lower house voted
to grant a 90-day waiver to foreigners that need one during the Rio
2016 Olympic Games.
The
waiver aims to boot tourism during the games and it will not be subject
to visitors having tickets, halting temporally a reciprocity visa
policy from several countries like the Unites States, Canada and China.
Kevin
Tang, director of the Brazil-China Chamber of Commerce, says it is a
positive move, considering China's outbound tourists totaled more than
100 million last year.
"China
is Brazil's largest trade partner but last year there were only around
60 thousand tourists in Brazil. That is less than half percent of all
Chinese tourists around the world," Tang said.
Tour operators agree visas are a major problem for the tourism industry:
"If
the waiver is not extended after the Rio Olympics, it will not bear
many fruits because people will still have difficulties to come," said
Diego Barreto, tour operator of Rio Maximo Tours.
And
what Brazil wants now is to attract as many foreign visitors as
possible as the country is sinking into recession and is in need of hard
currency.
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