Brazil plans to relax US visa rules for Rio Olympics
Brazil will likely relax visa rules for Americans during the 2016 Rio Olympics in order to boost ticket sales.
"We would expand the exception for the visa for the American market for those who want to come to the Olympics," said tourism minister Henrique Eduardo Alves.
The move comes after weak ticket sales for some Olympic sports.
Demand has been very strong among Brazilians for events like basketball, soccer, volleyball and athletics which all have a big following in Brazil, but less so for other sports.
Alves has not yet disclosed what visa rule change Brazil is proposing for visiting US sports fans or if it would been expanded to nationals of other countries.
Meanwhile Alves said construction work on Olympic venues and infrastructure was going ‘OK’ after speeding up progress following criticism from the IOC governing body.
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