MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

U.S. tourists cancel trips to Brazil.

Some U.S. tourists have begun cancelling their trips to Brazil as a result of additional security measures adopted at Brazilian airports, O Globo daily reported Thursday.

A travel agency cancelled a group reservation for 240 U.S. tourists scheduled to visit Rio de Janeiro during the Southern Hemisphere summer, according to the Brazilian Receptive Tourism Association.

"They had been threatening to cancel the trip because of the high cost of entry visas to Brazil, which rose from $65 to $100 last year, and ended up cancelling the trip altogether when they found out about the additional controls," Association Vice President Roberto Dutra told O Globo.

He said Brazil stands to lose some $900,000 as a result of the cancellation. Brazilian Tourism Secretary Sergio de Almeida is concerned that additional cancellations could come in the near future.

A federal judge ruled last Thursday that Brazilian federal police must photograph and fingerprint all U.S. citizens arriving in the country.

The decision came as a result of a petition by a prosecutor from the southwestern Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul unhappy about the inclusion of Brazil on Washington's list of countries whose citizens face rigorous scrutiny when entering the United States.

Rio is Brazil's most important tourist destination and one of the largest in Latin America, with 26 percent of its 1.5 million foreign visitors in 2002 coming from the United States.