Covid-19: Tourism Minister rejects restrictions on foreigners arriving in Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Brazilian Minister of Tourism, Gilson Machado, said Thursday (25) that the Brazilian government rejects any restriction on the entry of foreign tourists despite the pandemic of Covid-19 but will abide by what the health authorities decide on the requirement of the vaccination certificate.

Machado also said that the federal government defends the immediate reactivation of tourism and tourist events, such as Carnaval, but that its hands are tied if the different regional or municipal governments decide to cancel their Carnaval festivities, as some 60 cities have already announced.

“The government of President Jair Bolsonaro does not work with any kind of restriction to individual freedoms, mainly to Brazilians themselves inside Brazil,” said the minister in a virtual press conference to foreign correspondents in the country.

When asked if the government will require vaccination certificates from foreign tourists who want to enter the country, the minister clarified that Bolsonaro is against restrictions but will listen to what the National Health Regulator Anvisa has to say.

“The president’s orientation is to listen to Anvisa, but the final decision will be up to the governors or mayors. They can impose these restrictions even against the will of the federal government,” he said.

The regional and municipal governments that want to authorize Carnaval festivities next February, among them Rio de Janeiro, want Anvisa to impose a vaccination certificate requirement for foreign tourists, in order to prevent a new wave of the pandemic in the country.

Anvisa technicians have recommended that the vaccination certificate be required both at land borders and at international airports. Still, the Agency’s board of directors has not yet decided.

BOLSONARO CALLS FOR UNRESTRICTED OPEN BORDERS

The leader of Brazil’s conservative right, has asked Anvisa to authorize the opening of land borders, closed since last year because of the pandemic, and to remove restrictions on foreigners at airports.

The head of state says that the relaxation is necessary to reactivate tourism, one of the sectors hardest hit by the restrictive measures imposed to curb the pandemic.

Governors and mayors want to free up Carnaval. However, they fear that the agglomeration generated by the festivities and the arrival of tourists where the pandemic is still uncontrolled could provoke a new wave in the country or introduce new mutations.

Machado even rejected Anvisa’s decision that requires foreign tourists to enter Brazil to present a negative result for the Covid-19 diagnostic test by PCR.

“That PCR requirement is a huge barrier for tourism in Brazil. If a visitor has to pay a high cost for the test required to enter the country and has to retake it when he wants to return to his country, he will end up paying almost the same price as the ticket,” he said.

The minister argued that, despite rejecting the restrictions, the government could not prevent states and municipalities from imposing them because the Supreme Court determined that sanitary measures to face Covid-19 are the responsibility of regional and municipal governments.

“The Carnaval will depend on the will of each governor or each mayor, but I would like to know what will be the argument of those who want to release the Carnaval but still have the churches closed,” he added.

At least 60 cities in the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Paraíba have already announced the cancellation of the annual Carnaval festivities. Still, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, and Recife, which offer the most famous and multitudinous carnivals, have confirmed them.