Africans will be permitted to enter Rwanda without a visa, according to President Paul Kagame, who spoke at a global tourism conference in Kigali.
With the statement, the East African country becomes the continent’s latest to take such a measure aimed at enhancing the free movement of people and trade.
“We’ve also lifted visa requirements for citizens of every African country, as well as many others. Make no mistake about it, any African can fly to Rwanda whenever they want and will not have to pay anything to enter our country,” Paul Kagame stated.
“Globally, the travel and tourism industry has recovered strongly, but the high cost of travel to and within Africa remains a barrier,” he said in a speech at the World Travel and Tourism Council’s (WTTC) 23rd Global Summit.
Paul Kagame was speaking at the World Travel and Tourism Council’s tourism conference, where the WTTC released research claiming that Africa’s travel and tourism sector could add $168 billion to the continent’s GDP over the next ten years.
According to the research, the three important approaches to increasing visitor arrivals and enhancing industry earnings were easier visa access, improved air travel, and tourism promotion.
Benin, Seychelles, and Gambia are among the other African countries that have eliminated visa restrictions.
Kenyan President William Ruto declared last week that all Africans would be granted visa-free entrance to Kenya, the main economy in the East African region, beginning next year.
African authorities are eager to speed up travel, commerce, and business activity under the African Continental Free Commerce Agreement (AfCFTA), a continent-wide free trade zone that will be inaugurated in January 2021.
The trade group aspires to connect more than one billion people in a $3 trillion economic bloc, becoming the world’s largest free trade zone since the World Trade Organization’s foundation.