On 23 January local time President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced that Brazil will waive short-term visas for holders of ordinary Chinese passports, reciprocating Beijing’s 30-day visa-free scheme for Brazilians that has been in force since June 2025.

Key points of the presidential communiqué

• Scope: tourism, business meetings, family visits, academic exchanges and transit

• Stay limit: 30 days per entry, maximum 90 days within any 12-month period

• Implementation: an inter-ministerial ordinance will be issued in Q1-2026; until then Chinese travellers must still obtain a visa

Immediate market reaction

Within hours of the announcement flight-search volumes on Chinese platforms surged:

• Rio de Janeiro: +27 % hour-on-hour; Brasília: +84 %; São Paulo: +22 %

• Week-on-week growth to all Brazilian destinations exceeded five-fold on Qunar

• Top departure cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Xiamen

Industry analysts expect the waiver to be in force before the July-August peak season, when Guangzhou–São Paulo flights already run at 95 % load-factor. Embratur forecasts that Chinese arrivals could triple once the exemption takes effect, restoring pre-pandemic growth momentum and accelerating business flows in agriculture, energy and technology sectors