Brazil will begin granting visa-free entry to Chinese citizens holding ordinary passports from May 11, a move anticipated to accelerate tourism, trade, and investment flows between the two major emerging economies.
Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Thursday that Chinese nationals with ordinary passports will be permitted short-term entry without a visa for stays of up to 30 days per visit.
The decision immediately triggered a surge in travel interest across China, with online travel platforms reporting a sharp increase in searches for flights to Brazilian cities, including Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Brasília.
Travel platform Qunar reported that searches for flights to Rio de Janeiro doubled within an hour of the announcement and nearly tripled compared to the same period the previous week. Searches for Brasília also rose twofold within the hour, increasing 4.5 times week-on-week.
The strongest demand came from Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, and Chengdu. Searches for the Beijing-Rio de Janeiro route jumped 6.8 times within an hour, while searches from Shanghai and Chengdu to Brasília surged more than tenfold compared to the previous week.
Yang Han, a researcher at Qunar’s Big Data Research Institute, stated that Brazil has rapidly emerged as one of the fastest-growing long-haul destinations for Chinese outbound travellers.
During China’s recent five-day May Day holiday, Brazil ranked among the top 10 outbound travel destinations. Flight bookings from China to Brazil rose 95 per cent year-on-year, while bookings to São Paulo surged by 130 per cent, according to Qunar data.
Tongcheng Travel reported a similar trend, noting that searches related to Brazil jumped by more than 200 per cent within 30 minutes of the announcement. São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Brasília recorded the highest levels of interest on the platform.
The company suggested that demand for travel to the Americas is likely to strengthen further ahead of the summer travel season and the upcoming FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Analysts say Brazil’s visa waiver reflects a broader effort to attract Chinese tourists, capital, and business activity while strengthening diplomatic and economic ties with Beijing.
Tang Jie, an expert at the Institute of American and Oceanian Studies at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, remarked that the measure would reduce travel costs, enhance efficiency in trade and service exchanges, and encourage new investment opportunities.
“Brazil’s move sends a positive signal for broader China-Latin America cooperation,” Tang said.
The policy also builds on recent travel facilitation measures between the two countries. Since June 2024, Brazil has offered visa facilitation for Chinese service passport holders, expanding exchanges among government officials, researchers, academics, and business executives.
Meanwhile, China introduced a unilateral visa-free policy for Brazilian citizens from June 1, 2025, to May 31, 2026. Brazilian passport holders can enter China for tourism, business, family visits, exchanges, or transit for up to 30 days without a visa.
The latest move comes as economic relations between the two countries continue to deepen.
According to a report released on Thursday by the Brazil-China Business Council, Brazil became the world’s top destination for Chinese investment in 2025, attracting 10.9 per cent of China’s global outbound capital flows.
Chinese investment in Brazil reached $6.1 billion across dozens of projects, marking a 45 per cent increase from 2024. Much of the investment has targeted the clean energy, infrastructure, and mining sectors.
Trade between the two countries has also remained robust despite global economic uncertainty. Official data showed that China-Brazil trade reached $171 billion last year, up 8.2 per cent year-on-year, with China maintaining its position as Brazil’s largest trading partner for the 17th consecutive year.
Experts believe that the visa-free policy is likely to inject fresh momentum into bilateral relations by making travel, commerce, and people-to-people exchanges significantly easier.
