Despite the devastating effects of the Covid-19 crisis on travel and tourism worldwide, new data from the 2022 Africa Visa Openness Index (AVOI) shows that African countries are making progress in their freedom of travel policies.
The annual report by the African Development Bank Group, in collaboration with the African Union Commission, was launched on the sidelines of the 2022 African Economic Conference in Mauritius.
The report looks at visa policies adopted by African governments on three main criteria: whether entry to citizens from other African countries is visa-free, if a visa on arrival can be obtained, and whether travellers are required to obtain visas ahead of travelling to other African countries.
This year’s report highlights the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on travel to African destinations in the last two years, 2020 and 2021, during which most countries restricted movement, both domestically and for international travel.
According to the report, 10 countries have improved their visa openness score over the past year, and visa openness on the continent now exceeds that recorded during the year prior to the Covid-19 pandemic and is in line with the peak score achieved in 2020.
The report also revealed that African travel has become more open to African citizens in 2022, with fewer restrictions overall.
African Union Commission deputy chairperson, Dr Monique Nsazabaganwa, said that this edition links free movement to the development of regional value chains, investments, trade in services and the AfCFTA, and there is greater recognition that human mobility is key to Africa’s integration efforts.
African Development Bank Group acting vice president in charge of Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery, Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade, also weighed in, saying that the Africa Visa Openness Index has been tracking visa openness as a measure of the freedom of movement since 2016.
“This year’s edition — the seventh — shows many African countries having greatly simplified their visa regime over the past year,” said Akin-Olugbade.
Also commenting on the report, African Development Bank Group acting director in charge of the Regional Integration Coordination Office, Jean-Guy Afrika, said that the Africa Visa Openness Index had tracked the evolution of visa regimes on the African continent from before the pandemic to today.
“As the 2022 report shows, African countries are dismantling many of the measures imposed during the pandemic. Indeed, on the whole, the continent has returned to a level of visa openness last seen just before the pandemic began,” said Afrika.