by Brian Major
Last updated: 10:45 AM ET, Tue February 27, 2018
The January launch of digital visa access for American travelers to Brazil is part of a strategy more than three years in the making. The launch's quick early success indicates the program could dramatically expand travel to the South American nation, already the continent's most popular destination among U.S. travelers.
Since the January 25, 2018 launch of its electronic visa program, the Brazilian Tourism Board (EMBRATUR) reports visa applications by Americans have increased 70 percent compared with the same period in 2017. Brazil hosted 6.6 million visitors in 2016, the most recent year for which data is available. Of that number, Americans accounted for 550,000 Brazil visits.
"These first results show that implementing the electronic visa should represent a direct impact towards a change of level in the flow of North American tourists to Brazil," said Vinícius Lummertz, EMBRATUR's president.
"In the first month, it generated an expressive increase of 80 percent in the demand for visas in this key market for the Brazilian tourism industry," said Lummertz. "The initial forecast indicates that the measure would double the number of North Americans in Brazil and annual revenue would jump from $710 million to over $ 1.5 billion. But the first reports have been fantastic and show that this goal may even be exceeded."
U.S.-based tour operators active in Brazil travel along with leading industry tour organizations welcomed news of the e-visa program's launch, as Americans represent Brazil's second-largest source of leisure travelers, trailing only neighboring Argentina.
The e-visa system is designed to speed and facilitate the entry process. Upon departure for Brazil, travelers present a printed, electronic or digitalized e-visa copy for authorization. Upon arrival, travelers present the e-Visa to the Federal Police. Brazil reportedly plans to install electronic e-gates, similar to Global Entry Systems, currently available only to Brazilian citizens.
Travelers may apply for e-visas online; EMBRATUR officials say response time is less than 72 hours. E-Visas cost $40 and are valid for two years; 65 percent of U.S. travelers bound for Brazil now utilize e-visas, officials say.
Brazil's strategy to boost American visitors through changes to its visa program is more than two years in the making. Lummertz, an experienced Brazil tourism policy official who authored the Brazilian tourism ministry's National Tourism Plan as head of its policy secretariat, said in 2015 his goal was to modernize EMBRATUR initiatives and enable "a more aggressive marketing strategy for international promotional activities."
The e-visa program started in 2015 when Brazil officially entered the U.S. Global Entry program prior to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. At the time, Brazil's move to join Global Entry was viewed as an important step toward ending visa requirements for travelers from both countries.
Currently Brazilians traveling to the United States must obtain B-2 visas unless they are eligible to travel visa free under the country's Visa Waiver Program, or are a national of a country with an agreement allowing their citizens to travel to the United States without visas.
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