The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has published its preliminary report on visa openness in Africa.
The UN Tourism Organization made the report public during the First ICAO/UNWTO Ministerial Conference on Air Transport and Tourism in Africa recently held in Santa Maria, Sal Island in Cabo Verde.
The 2019 Visa Openness Report for Africa continues the analysis of visa policies and progress made in visa facilitation over the past ten years, supporting destinations with evidence-based findings to support their decisions in prioritizing activities within their facilitation policies.
Besides presenting the global perspective, the report gives specific insights into the temporal changes as well as current context in regards to visa policies implemented by African economies and their impact on temporary visitors. In addition, the impact of visa policies implemented by countries of other regions on the citizens of African countries are also presented.
While in 2008, 88% of the world population on average still needed to obtain a traditional visa when traveling to Africa, this changed in 2018 to 45%, demonstrating that countries in Africa have embraced the process on visa facilitation and making good progress in easing the process to make it more hassle free for the discerning traveler. However, more needs to be done so that Africa can benefit well from a globally expanding tourism sector“
Commenting on the preliminary report, the Secretary General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Ambassador Zurab Pololikashvili said visa policies are among the most important governmental formalities influencing international tourism, and closely linked to the development of tourism. He mentioned that UNWTO will continue working with Governments to encourage and support in the implementation of their policies on visas.
