The Government of Brazil will set up a commission involving the Ministries of Tourism and Foreign Affairs to extend the electronic visa to citizens of the People’s Republic of China as soon as possible, Tourism Minister Marcelo Álvaro António said on Monday in Macau.

The minister, who travelled to Macau to attend the Global Tourism Economy Forum (GTEF) • Macau 2019, in which his country is one of the partners this year, also said that the commission, to be set up under an inter-ministerial ordinance should be completed within 30 to 40 days.

António referred to other options that are being studied to increase the number of Chinese tourists who seek out Brazil as a destination, such as a possibility of exempting Chinese citizens who already have entry visas for both the European Union and for the United States of America or Argentina.

Another of the projects due to be implemented in the short term is, according to the Brazilian Tourism Minister, the opening of a larger number of visa issuing centres in China.

“We currently have two such centres, but we intend to have 12 in the short term,” said António.

Residents with a passport from the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) are already exempt from visas for Brazil, and within 30 days will also have a visa for Argentina, the other partner country of the Global Tourism Economy Forum (GTEF) • Macao 2019 under an agreement signed on Monday.

To date, 144 countries and territories grant visas or visa waivers on arrival to MSAR passport holders, and the agreement now signed in Macau will come into force on 13 November 2019. (Macauhub)