Brazil's decision to grant visa-free entry to Chinese citizens holding ordinary passports has triggered an immediate surge in interest in travel to the country across several regions of China. The measure came into effect on 11 May and allows Chinese tourists to stay in Brazil for up to 30 days without a visa.

The announcement quickly sparked enthusiasm among Chinese travellers. According to the tourism platform Qunar, searches for flights to Brazil registered strong growth just a few hours after the measure was announced. By 8:30 pm on 7 May, searches for flights to Rio de Janeiro had doubled compared with the previous hour and tripled compared with the same period last week. Meanwhile, demand for flights to Brasília increased threefold on an hourly basis and 4.5 times on a weekly basis.

According to data released by Qunar's Big Data Institute, the new policy is expected to significantly reduce travel barriers for Chinese tourists interested in experiencing Brazilian culture, football and Carnival, helping to boost tourist flows between the two countries.

(Source: China 2 Brasil, on 8 May)