Electronic visa boosts number of tourists in Brazil

Brazilian Tourism Institute (Embratur) President Vinicius Lummertz celebrated the results of the implementation of the electronic visa for tourists coming from the US, Canada, Australia, and Japan. According to the Ministry of Tourism, 400 thousand foreign tourists are estimated to have come to Brazil for Carnival alone, bringing approximately $3.53 billion to the country's economy.

Embratur is tasked with the policies linked to the promotion of the country's tourist destinations. The figures, released last Wednesday (Feb 14) are preliminary, and are expected to be made public in their final values in the upcoming days. Lummertz believes that the electronic visa comes as a major change in the expansion of Brazil's tourism around the globe.

The United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA) expects the number of US tourists visiting Brazil to double as a result of the change. The same is true for other countries that have implemented the electronic visa. Lummertz remarked, however that this takes time.

Manoel Linhares, head of the Brazilian Hotel Industry Association (ABIH) said that the electronic visa is going to make it much easier for tourists from the US and other countries to come to Brazil. “Undoubtedly, Brazil is likely to have more and more arrivals from the US, which is the second country with the highest number of tourists in Brazil, following Argentina.”

During the parade of the Rio de Janeiro's top-ranking schools last week,  Lummertz received the first group of 74 Australians who had their visas issued under the new system.

Vice-president of Australian Hotels Association Lyn Humphreys said that the move was widely welcomed by Australians, who previously had to go on long trips to Brazilian consulates in their country, and now can submit an online application and have their visa issued in just 72 hours rather than the previous two-month period.

Going global

Also coming as part of Brazil's efforts to go further and further global, Lummertz went on to say, are bills under consideration in Congress—among them the project Céus Abertos (“Open Skies”), which increases the weekly number of US flights headed for Brazil.

Also mentioned were the opening of air companies to foreign investors, in a bid to boost competitiveness in the country, and making Embratur an independent agency, so that it can become a more efficient competitor in the global market.

“We need to invest more on international tourists. It's what countries all over the world are doing,” Lummertz argued. He noted the importance of more air integration and lower fees due to higher competitiveness. “More air connectivity will lead to more flights more often, which tends to bring prices down,” he declared.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira