As African nations strive to promote foreign tourist arrivals, the ease of visa is one of the biggest benchmarks and as per the latest Africa Visa Openness Index 2024, four nations, namely Benin, the Gambia, Rwanda and the Seychelles, share the top spot once again.

The index, that is compiled by the African Development Bank and African Union Commission, tracks visa openness and the ease of visiting African countries. The AVOI measures the extent to which African countries are open to visitors from other African countries. It analyses each country’s visa requirements to show which African countries most facilitate travel to their territory.

For each country, the AVOI calculates the number of African countries whose citizens must obtain a visa before travelling there, the number of countries whose citizens may obtain a visa upon arrival, and the number of countries whose citizens can enter visa-free. Each country is then assigned an AVOI score and ranked accordingly.

One of biggest changes in the AVOI 2024 has been in Kenya which has fallen dramatically after a new visa regime that was supposed to make travel to Kenya easier. However, the East African country slid 17 places on the index, to stand now at 46 out of 54 African countries listed on the index.

Earlier this year, Kenya recently launched its Electronic Travel Authorisation programme which reduced the cost of visa from USD 50 to USD 30. However, it came with a rule that all inbound visitors have to register for the visa online and the approval takes about three days.

Broad momentum for openness

African countries continue to progress towards visa-free travel

According to AVOI, there is broad momentum towards increasing openness across Africa. Of 54 countries on the continent, 17 have improved their AVOI score over the past year, building on the 15 countries that showed an improvement in the last edition. The score of 29 countries’ scores remain unchanged, while the scores of eight have declined.

The report says that in 2024, several countries have implemented visa policy changes. Some have been bold, instituting positive visa reforms which have resulted in tangible progress towards a more open continent. Many have involved bilateral changes in visa policy, often on a reciprocal basis and implemented in a seemingly coordinated manner. In some instances, policy changes have been more nuanced, while still resulting in tangible benefits for those directly affected, especially on the introduction of e-visas.

On the other hand, the report points out that other policy changes have created new impediments that undermine the ease of movement, resulting in more burdensome travel for some citizens. Some of these policy changes relate to domestic or foreign policy, political, security or other concerns. For example, during 2024, some countries removed the option of obtaining a visa on arrival, requiring travellers to obtain a visa, whether traditional or electronic, before embarking on their journey.

In other instances, a significant number of countries have embraced new technologies and launched processes of digitising the travel and immigration process, which although well intended, added additional layers of requirements to the traveller and did not facilitate ease of movement. The introduction of ETAs by some countries is a case in point, it says in an indirect reference to Kenya.

The other findings of the index include that in 28 pc of country‑to-country travel scenarios within Africa, African citizens do not need a visa to cross the border, a marked improvement over 20 pc in 2016.

The report adds that in 2024, 26 African countries, or 44 pc of the continent, offered an  evisa for Africans, up from nine African countries, about 17 pc of the continent in 2016. As many as 39 countries have improved their score since 2016.