Return of visa requirement for Americans in Brazil: industry associations see risk of impacting tourism

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As of 2019, citizens of the US and Japan, Canada and Australia are exempt. The resumption occurred after the government consulted countries about benefits for Brazilians. ‘Brazil does not grant unilateral exemption of visit visas, without reciprocity’, said the Itamaraty. Hall of Salgado Filho International Airport, in Porto Alegre. Reproduction/RBS TV As of October 1st, citizens of the United States, Japan, Canada and Australia will once again be required to obtain a tourist visa to enter Brazil. Since June 2019, they have been exempt from this authorization by a decree by former President Jair Bolsonaro. The decision came after consultations by the Lula government with these four countries on the possibility of exempting Brazilians from visas, respecting the principle of reciprocity, a concept of International Law that establishes that countries should be treated equally. “Brazil does not grant unilateral exemption of visit visas”, stated the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Itamaraty), on Monday night (13). The g1 spoke with a specialist in international relations and two associations linked to tourism to understand what the impacts of the decision would be: for the professor of International Relations at FGV Vinícius Vieira, the return of the visa is right because “giving up the visa requirement” it reduces Brazil’s bargaining power in foreign negotiations; the president of the Fecomercio-SP Tourism Council, Mariana Aldrigui, understands that the principle of reciprocity does not work for tourism. While a trip to the United States, for example, is the “dream of consumption” for many Brazilians, North Americans prefer to travel to countries in the Northern Hemisphere, she says; the president of the Brazilian Hotel Industry Association (ABIH), Manoel Linhares, recalls that the visa exemption was an old demand from the sector and that the measure did not have time to impact tourism due to the restrictions of the pandemic; in 2017, the Ministry of Tourism even proposed visa exemption for the 4 countries, but the Itamaraty was against it because it understood that, in exchange, Brazilians should have the same benefits. The Ministry of Tourism did not comment until the publication of this report. Find out more details below. Tourist flow in Brazil By reversing the visa exemption, the Lula government assessed that the impact of the resumption should be small and used data on the inflow of people from these countries since 2019 as evidence. in Brazil after the visa waiver, but the increase was not much greater than before this measure took effect, according to Federal Police numbers sent to g1. At the peak of 2019, in December, already under visa waiver, 36,615 American tourists entered the country. It was the second highest number in the series that starts in 2017 and runs until February of this year. It was surpassed only last December, when 37,376 US tourists arrived. But those two numbers are not far above another peak, recorded in December 2012, when visas were still required and 31,301 US citizens came to the country for tourism. It turns out that, in general, the graphs show a sharp drop in the entry of people into Brazil from March 2020, with the Covid-19 pandemic. So far, Canada, Australia and Japan have not returned to pre-pandemic inflow levels. Only the United States, which is the second largest source of tourists in Brazil, after Argentina, returned to the previous level. Short time to evaluate the measure That is why, for the president of the Brazilian Hotel Industry Association (ABIH), Manoel Linhares, it is unreasonable to base the decision taking into account data from 2020, 2021 and 2022, “once the world it was in the middle of a pandemic and guided by the restrictions imposed by the moment.” “There is a large group of people who are still afraid to travel. […] The impression it gives us is that once again tourism is looked at and evaluated as a sector of lesser importance”, added Mariana Aldrigui, president of the FecomercioSP Tourism Council. Read more: Shopping abroad: find out what you can bring without being taxed Passport: how to apply, deadline for issuance, fee and mandatory documents How to obtain a US tourist visa; see VIDEO Is ‘Reciprocity’ valid for tourism? equal with other countries in the world”, says the professor of international relations at FGV Vinícius Vieira. “Giving up the visa requirement is an unintelligent measure from the point of view of trade negotiations and investments, because it is a bargaining power that Brazil loses when making a unilateral assignment”, he points out. “We understand and respect the reciprocity principle. It is valid for diplomacy, but when talking about tourism, the scales are very different”, says Mariana Al drigui, president of the Tourism Council of Fecomercio-SP. “The United States is the dream destination of many Brazilians…drawings, movies, almost everything reminds us of them. But the reverse is not true under any circumstances. When North Americans think of international travel, they think especially of the Northern Hemisphere,” she says. “Brazil, for North Americans, is in the collection of exotic destinations and, to be remembered, it enters a field of extremely high competition. Almost all countries want North Americans,” he adds. According to Mariana, countries in the Caribbean, for example, are a much sought-after destination within this field of “exotic” travel. These nations, along with the United Arab Emirates, Thailand and the Philippines, have made strong investments in marketing and training to attract tourists, he points out.For Mariana, Brazilian tourism faces yet another disadvantage: the image crisis that the country has suffered in recent years and which, at this moment, is starting to reposition itself with the current government. “Each negative message that arrives takes a long time to be recovered”, she comments. For the reasons above, she believes that the visa waiver could consolidate a competitive advantage for Brazil to attract tourists. Miles and credit card points: how they work and how to use it? Delayed or canceled flight: find out about passenger rights Exemption is an old tourism claim “The release of visas for the countries that travel the most in the world, in 2019, was the consolidation of a two-decade claim”, points out Linhares, from the Brazilian Hotel Industry Association (ABIH). During the 2013 Confederations Cup and World Youth Day and the 2014 World Cup, Brazil even established special visa categories for the entry and stay for 90 days of tourists coming to the events. In 2015, during the Dilma Rousseff government, Brazil authorized the waiver of visas for citizens of the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan, provided they came to the country to watch the 2016 Olympics. Two years later, in 2017, the Ministry of Tourism it went so far as to propose definitively ending the visa requirement for these countries, considering that the cost and process of obtaining a visa would be obstacles to travel to Brazil. But the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was against it because it understood that the principle of reciprocity should prevail, that is, that Brazilians should have the same benefits as North Americans. This is because, in January 2017, President Donald Trump edited a decree with the aim of making it difficult to grant visas to citizens of several countries, including Brazil. At the time, advisers from the Ministry of Tourism and the Planalto Palace told g1 that one of the reasons for the Itamaraty’s resistance is the possible loss in the collection of fees charged on emissions. Itamaraty contested this and said that the money for visas was not kept at Brazilian consulates abroad and that they were sent to Brazil. To obtain a visa, American citizens needed to go to a Brazilian consulate. In general, the issuance process included completing an online form, paying a fee, interviewing at the consulate, and waiting for the document to be released. The permit used to be valid for ten years and cost between US$80 and US$160. In January 2018, Brazil started accepting electronic visas for US tourists. The platform exempted citizens from going to Brazilian consulates in person to obtain the document. The cost was US$ 40 and it was valid for a maximum of two years. Japanese and Canadians also began to have access to electronic visas in January 2018. Australians have had this benefit since November 2017. Japan. The decision was taken after consultations with these four countries on the possibility of granting visa exemptions to Brazilian nationals, in compliance with the principle of reciprocity. The measure will come into force from October 1, 2023. established by Decree 9731, of March 16, 2019, breaking with the pattern of Brazilian migration policy, historically based on the principles of reciprocity and equal treatment. Brazil does not grant unilateral exemption of visit visas, without reciprocity, to others countries. From the date of entry into force of the measure, the modality of the electronic visa, which was in force before the unilateral exemption, will be adopted. In attention to the interests of Brazilian citizens, the Brazilian government will be ready to continue negotiating, with the four mentioned countries, visa waiver agreements on a reciprocal basis.”

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