The Ministries of Tourism and Foreign Affairs are studying the possibility of allowing tourists from China and India to enter Brazil with electronic visas. This statement was made by the Minister of Tourism, Marcelo Álvaro Antônio, during a visit to the Empresa Brasil de Comunicação (EBC) in Brasília (DF).
The President Jair Bolsonaro spoke about the visa exemption for tourists from Japan, Australia, the USA, and Canada at the United Nations General Assembly in New York (USA). Since June 17, citizens of these countries do not need a visa to enter Brazil for a period of 90 days, extendable for another 90 days. Bolsonaro stated at the UN that similar actions are being studied for China and India.
“This issue is being discussed with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In fact, the president says that similar actions were being studied by the ministry. And I believe that the most appropriate similar action for China and India will initially be the electronic visa, because there is a whole study by the ministry regarding the migratory issue, and the electronic visa will undoubtedly be a significant advance in attracting more tourists from China and India,” the minister revealed.
According to the Minister of Tourism, since the visa exemption for Japanese, Australian, American, and Canadian tourists is recent, the data on the increase in their visits to Brazil is still being accounted for, but in Foz do Iguaçu (PR), there has been a 40% increase in spending by tourists from these four countries since the measure came into effect in June.
Cruise Tourism
Marcelo Álvaro Antônio also commented on the ministry’s initiative to boost cruise tourism along the Brazilian coast. According to the minister, the goal of the ministry is to structure seven ports in Brazil in the same way as is being planned for the new port of Camboriú (SC), 
with a network of shopping malls and hotels to welcome foreign tourists.
The Ministry of Infrastructure has authorized the installation of a cruise ship port in Balneário Camboriú, on the northern coast of Santa Catarina. The project will be private, and the concession period will be 25 years.
The port of Balneário Camboriú is the first step in a project that aims to build 15 facilities focused on maritime tourism throughout Brazil. The expectation is to attract more companies from the cruise sector, more ships to the Brazilian coast, and significantly increase the number of tourists and the economic impact of the sector.
The Minister of Tourism anticipated that the goal is to increase the number of ships and tourists on cruises in Brazil. “Today we have only seven ships that operate cruises on the Brazilian route. That is very little. We once had 22 and we have the potential and capacity to have 100 ships, each bringing an average of 4,000 people. We are talking about 800,000 people enjoying tourism on the Brazilian coast.”
Marcelo Álvaro Antônio also clarified that each tourist spends an average of US$ 100 daily. We are talking about US$ 80 million in each city for a ship to dock on the Brazilian coast. Therefore, this action of structuring the ports in Brazil is fundamental.”
According to data from the Brazilian Association of Maritime Cruises (Clia Brasil), the country received seven ships and had 462,300 cruise passengers in the 2018/2019 season, generating a movement of R$ 2.083 billion. Nearly 500,000 beds were offered during the period, a number 15% higher than the previous season, and the ships recorded 100% occupancy. Tourists had an average stay of 5.5 days and an average expenditure of R$ 2,929. In each port city, the average economic impact generated by cruise passengers was R$ 581.35.
In terms of jobs, the 2018/2019 season generated 31,900 jobs in the Brazilian economy, a result 15.3% higher than the number achieved in 2017/2018. Of this total, 2,100 were crew members of the ships and 29,800 were various jobs. It was the best result of the last four seasons.
Source: www.brasil.gov.br