The visa exemption for tourists from the United States, Canada, Japan, and Australia, implemented for the period of the Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games, has yielded positive results in tourist flow.
A survey conducted by the Ministry of Tourism in conjunction with the Federal Police concluded that the total number of foreign tourists from the exempt countries grew by an average of 55.31% compared to the same period in 2015.
In 2016, 163,104 tourists from the four nationalities visited Brazil, compared to 105,017 the previous year. The number of visitors increased by 47% for tourists from the USA; 61% for Japanese; 84% for Canadians; and 107% for Australians.
“Global organizations had already predicted this trend, which we now confirm in 2016. Of all the foreigners who came to Brazil for the Games, 74.7% said that this was one of the factors that motivated their trip. Now we want the Brazilian government to adopt the measure for two years so that we can have a more complete view of the effectiveness and the real growth effects that the exemption can have on Brazilian tourist flow,” said the president of Embratur (Brazilian Tourism Institute), Vinicius Lummertz (photo).Permanent Measure
Lummertz also highlighted the Institute’s advocacy for the permanent adoption of these visa exemption policies for these countries, which would provide a welcome boost to the sector and, consequently, help strengthen the Brazilian economy.
Both the Minister of Tourism, Marx Beltrão, and Lummertz proposed to resume discussions about the exemptions with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Civil House. If the measure is approved, the trend is that the new exemption period will last two years.
A survey conducted among the 20 largest countries in the world in 2012 by the WTTC (World Tourism and Travel Council), one of the leading entities in the sector worldwide, concluded that the more open a country is, the more developed its tourism sector. WTTC experts indicate that countries can experience a growth of 5% to 25% in revenue as they reduce entry visa restrictions. Source: brazilgovnews