São Paulo – The city of Rio de Janeiro may receive 250,000 to 350,000 foreigner tourists during the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. The estimate was released this Tuesday (03rd) by the minister of Tourism, Vinicius Lages, at the opening ceremony of the Tourism Seminar for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.
According to information from Agência Brasil, Lages said that the next year’s event should increase the number of foreigners that visit the country, going from 6 million per year, on average, to 6.5 million at the end of 2016.
He also said that he had a meeting on Monday (02nd) with the minister of External Relations, Mauro Vieira, to discuss ways to facilitate the issuance of visas for tourists that are coming to watch the Olympic Games.
“We have the issue of the fee (the visa cost) and the simplification of procedures. The idea is that this facilitation turns into a promotion tool. Brazil needs to position itself to the world as a country that is easy to visit. I hope to have, as soon as next week, the submission of a proposal”, he said.
*TRanslated by Sérgio Kakitani
