Visa requirement for tourists at an all time low – UNWTO
The global share of tourists required to obtain a visa before travelling, continues to decrease and is at its lowest level ever, according to the UN World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) latest visa openness report.
In 2015, 39 per cent of the world population could travel for tourism without obtaining a traditional visa before travelling as compared to only 23 per cent in 2008.
From a total 75 per cent requiring a traditional visa in 1980, only 61 per cent of the world population required a traditional visa in 2015. Visa on arrival provisions also increased from 5 per cent to 15 per cent over the same period.
On average, 18 per cent of the world’s population was able to travel to a destination without a visa in 2015, while another 15 per cent could receive a visa on arrival and 6 per cent was able to obtain eVisas.
These changes are significant because previous research has established that if the costs of obtaining a visa – direct and indirect – as well as the complexity of the process is high, tourists get deterred from making their journey or simply look elsewhere.
“In order to fully reap the socio-economic benefits international tourism can generate for a country, it is necessary to put in place conditions that make the country competitive, the most important of which is to make destinations easy to visit”, the report says.
According to data gathered by the organization, a change from traditional visa to visa on arrival was the most common tourism facilitation measure among countries between 2010 and 2014, while positive the change from traditional visa to eVisa was the dominant travel facilitation measure within 2014 and 2015.
“Overall, emerging economies continue to be more open than advanced economies. At the regional level, South-East Asia, East Africa, the Caribbean and Oceania remain the most open areas while Central Africa, North Africa and North America were in 2015 the most restrictive subregions”, the UNWTO said.
“Prioritizing travel facilitation is central to stimulating economic growth and job creation through tourism. We are pleased to see that a growing number of governments around the world think likewise” UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai was quoted as saying.
The Secretary General added current security challenges should not hamper visa facilitation, and improving security and the ease of tourism travel should always go hand in hand, with countries working closely together to facilitate both.
Although much has been done, the UNWTO says several areas of opportunity remain for tourist destinations around the world to promote “a safer and more seamless travel experience.”
UNWTO recommends that tourist destinations focus on stronger segmentation and differentiation of high, medium and low risk travellers, on improving visa application processes and communication of visa policies, providing precise and accessible information to tourists, and on making use of regional integration opportunities.
By Emmanuel Odonkor