Rio, May 18, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - While President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is in China, for which he departs on Friday (21), he will receive from that country's tourism office a document entitled "status of approved destination," which will open up the vast potential of Chinese tourists that can visit Brazil and the foreign exchange they can bring to the country. The number of Chinese tourists in Brazil is very small, only 10 thousand each year. Chinese officials believe that, with no additional investment, the document that will be granted to Brazil can raise this number to 100 thousand in 2006.

At the American Chamber of Commerce in Rio de Janeiro, the Minister of Tourism, Walfrido Mares Guia, told entrepreneurs from the tourist sector that the document, or diploma, contains the formal authorization that the Chinese government grants countries that request this opening for the entry and exit of tourists.

The news that the Superior Council of the Chinese government had approved the authorization was transmitted to Mares Guia three weeks ago by the Chinese Vice-Minister of Tourism. President Lula will be presented the minutes of the memorandum of understandings that determines how the two countries will open their borders for bilateral tourist companies. The outlook is so positive that 35 Brazilian entrepreneurs from the tourist sector will be accompanying the Presidential entourage, Mares Guia said.

The Ministry will hold two workships in China, in the cities of Beijing and Shanghai, to publicize Brazil's environmental and cultural diversity and create closer ties among entrepreneurs from the two nations. A joint plan will be formulated to reduce the entry and exit costs of the tourist flow, increase the number of tourists, and facilitate the granting of visas, eliminating the bureaucracy that currently exists.

Through the Ministry of Tourism, the Brazilian government is already conversing with airlines in the two countries to encourage flights to both destinations.

Varig has already announced that, in light of difficulties caused by the concern over security in Los Angeles, in the United States, where it made stopovers on flights to China, it will, beginning in the second semester of this year, start to make connections in Munich, Germany. Mares Guia believes that, with the beginning of these flights in August, 100 thousand Chinese tourists may come to Brazil over the course of 2005 and 2006, as a result of the campaign to promote Brazil in China. Negotiations are also underway with Air China for a connection in either Paris or Frankfurt.

The Minister disclosed that, since it has already been discovered that the Chinese are not fascinated by beaches, emphasis will be given to ecotourism, adventure tours, bird-watching tours, and cultural and business tourism.

Translator: David Silberstein