Gustavo Santos (left) and Marcelo Álvaro Antônio
Argentina and Brazil – which are Macau’s 2019 Global Tourism Economy Forum partners – are mutually collaborating on an easy visa acquisition scheme for Chinese passport holders in a bid to facilitate the exchange of tourism between the three countries.
Gustavo Santos, Minister of Tourism in Argentina, and Marcelo Álvaro Antônio, Minister of Tourism in Brazil, said that both regions hope to give a progress update regarding the measure on November 29 at a tourism summit of Mercosur, a trade block made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay, which will be held in Brazil.
The officials highlighted that there is a great distance between Asian countries and South American countries. Therefore, providing easier access to these countries would be one of the ways to encourage visitors to visit Argentina and Brazil.
According to Antônio, Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro sees China as its biggest economic partner and believes that the massive country could also be its largest partner in tourism.
“I think President Bolsonaro is trying to showcase that [Brazil considers] the Chinese people as its main economic partners and we want to transform that partnership and realize the potential in the tourism area,” he said yesterday.
Currently, the countries are working on providing a one-time visa for the two regions in a bid to further attract tourists from Asia.
The minister considered that the two countries are just waiting for progress in regards to the visa measures relating to China.
“We need to create better access for Chinese tourists to the rest of the world. We will facilitate the traffic of tourists in both Argentina and Brazil, and I hope we will have some good news on November 29,” the tourism minister hinted.
Echoing the same sentiments, the tourism official of Argentina, Santos, shared that his country is also working on providing a 10-year visa to those that apply for a visa at Argentinian consulates.
“We want Argentina and Brazil to be perceived as a unit by the Chinese public so trips are easier. This is a joint strategy for the Asian market in general. […] We need to convert the weakness that is the distance into a strength,” said Santos.
“We can be closer to Asia, so to speak. To this very day, one of the important milestones [has been] the no visa requirement between Macau and Argentina,” the official added.
Currently, Macau passport holders have visa-free access to Brazil for 90 days, while Argentinian authorities yesterday signed an agreement with local authorities to grant local residents visa-free access to the country for a maximum of 30 days. The measure will be effective from November 13.
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