Brazil Open Skies Deal Is Great But Incomplete Without a Visa Waiver Program
Photo Credit: Brazil is about to finalize an Open Skies agreement with the United States. Pictured is a Brazilian tour group at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World. Flickr / Anna Fox
Skift Take
Do travelers care more about cheaper airfares or not having to schlep to a consulate, pay for a visa, and wait weeks or months for it to arrive? Many travel brands would say visa waivers are more important, and many travelers would agree. The U.S. doesn't seem to be in the business lately of making it easier for travelers to visit, visa waiver program aside.
Open Skies agreements have been a controversial subject in the United States in recent years with Delta, American and United seeking to limit competition from Gulf carriers. But it's a different story with Brazil, where a new agreement has U.S. carriers like American pleased to grow its presence in one of the world's largest economies.
Seven years in the making, Brazil is about to sign an Open Skies agreement with the United States that's poised to make airfares cheaper and boost tourism between both countries. It could also spur partnerships between American, Brazilian, and other Latin American carriers.
The agreement, which still needs Brazil President Michel Temer's signature, comes at a time when Brazil's arrivals to the U.S. are down more than 11 percent year-to-date through September, the most recent month for which data is available from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Brazil is the United States' eighth largest overseas source market for tourism, and Brazilian travel
