ISENÇÃO UNILATERAL DE VISTO DE TURISMO PARA OS EUA E BENEFÍCIOS ECONÔMICOS ESPERADOS: UM ESTUDO PARA O BRASIL, MÉXICO E ARGENTINA

Abstract

The measures one country takes towards another signals its willingness to cooperate or not. In this context, it is important to understand the different types of openness a country has through an aspect less studied, the visa diplomacy. This paper presents an evaluation of three countries: Brazil, Mexico and Argentina. They implemented the unilateral visa waiver strategy for the United States, seeking future benefits. To that end, the concepts of reciprocity, Unilateral Games and the background of US tourist visa waiver programs were discussed. US tourist flow and spending in the three countries were presented for five years before and after the visa exemption. Other factors related to the increase of tourists and growth of the tourism sector were also evaluated. Studies based on Celso D. Mello (2000), Robert O. Keohane (1986) and Kevin D. Stringer (2004) were used. This paper is a qualitative, descriptive, bibliographic and based on data collected from the U.S Department of Commerce. It was found that reciprocal relations are being modified, giving the countries space for unilateral measures. From the results obtained, it can be concluded that, although the unilateral visa waiver generates significant gains, it is not an exclusive factor for the increase of the tourist flow and growth of the tourism sector, with income and employment generation. Still, unilateral measures are important and may result in greater gains in the future.