Brazil, Uruguay visa waiver policies expected to fuel travel surge from China

The successive visa waiver policies announced by Brazil and Uruguay for Chinese citizens are expected to fuel a surge in long-haul trips to South America from China, insiders from the Chinese tourism sector say.

Uruguayan Foreign Minister Mario Lubetkin announced Thursday that Uruguay will waive visa requirements for Chinese citizens holding ordinary passports.

Highlighting that China is an important source of tourists for Uruguay, Lubetkin expressed the hope that the visa-free policy will encourage more Chinese tourists to visit Uruguay and experience Uruguayan culture.

It came after the Brazilian government announced in early May that Brazil will implement a visa-free entry policy for Chinese citizens holding valid ordinary passports, starting May 11, 2026.

According to Chinese online travel service provider Qunar, flight searches from China to Uruguay has increased significantly as of Friday. In particular, the number of searches for Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, surged dozens of times compared to the previous week.

Shi Ke, a researcher from the Big Data Research Institute of Qunar, told China Central Television (CCTV) that Chinese travelers can now combine Uruguay with Brazil in a single itinerary, which will allow them to visit multiple South American countries on a single trip and spread out the cost of long-haul international flights.

The researcher expects this two-country route to become a sought-after choice in China's outbound travel market during this summer and the National Day holiday season in October.

The Shanghai Spring International Travel Service (Group) Co., Ltd. said it will optimize the itineraries of multi-country tour to South America to better meet the personalized demands of Chinese tourists.

"Each Chinese tourist can save thousands of yuan (hundreds of U.S. dollars) in visa fees. And since the climate in South America is exactly the opposite of that in China, there will be more options regarding the timing of travel," Zhou Weihong, deputy general manager of the Shanghai Spring International Travel Service (Group), said in an interview with the CCTV.

Brazil, Uruguay visa waiver policies expected to fuel travel surge from China

China's advances in the low-altitude economy became manifest as its first domestically developed engine specifically for electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft rolled off the production line.

The AEE25 aviation electric engine, developed by the AECC (Aero Engine Corporation of China) Aeroengine Control System Institute, was delivered in Wuxi City, east China's Jiangsu Province, on Friday, setting a national record for torque density, meaning a lighter engine that allows the aircraft to carry more passengers or cargo.

The achievement marks a major breakthrough in key aviation electric propulsion technologies, with the engine's performance reaching internationally advanced levels.

The AEE25 converts electrical energy from onboard batteries into lift and thrust for rotor systems. The engine has achieved a torque density of 40 newton-meters per kilogram, the highest among China's publicly disclosed 200-kW-class aviation electric engines.

The engine integrates six core components -- a main motor and its controller, a cooling system motor and its controller, and a variable-pitch actuator and its controller -- into one.

"This is a highly integrated product. For aircraft manufacturers, it can start to work after being installed with the propeller and connected to power and the bus, thus simplifying the aircraft design process. In addition, the engine is designed to be safe enough, with all motors designed in duplicate, and all controllers having two channels. In the event of any single-point failure, the power output can be guaranteed," said Liu Guoping, deputy director of the AECC institute.

The AEE25 will be installed on the E20 eVTOL aircraft developed by Shanghai TCab Technology Co., Ltd (TCab Tech). The engine has also entered the airworthiness certification process alongside the aircraft program.

China's first homegrown eVTOL engine rolls off production line