African Visa Openness Index Shows Trade-Friendly Progress
The 2022 African Visa Openness Index reveals improved intra-African mobility with 50 nations easing visa policies post-pandemic, boosting trade prospects under AfCFTA.
The African Visa Openness Index 2022 shows African countries are making progress in loosening visa policies, which had been heavily restricted during the Covid-19 crisis. The report assesses governments’ visa policies using three key criteria: visa-free access for African citizens, visa-on-arrival options, and mandatory pre-travel visa requirements.
New Trade Opportunities in Intra-African Travel
In 2022, travel within Africa became more accessible to African citizens, with fewer overall restrictions. Fifty countries maintained or improved their openness scores compared to 2021, largely after easing pandemic-era travel restrictions.
Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade, AfDB’s Acting Vice President for Regional Development, Integration and Service Delivery, said: “The African Visa Openness Index has tracked visa openness as a free-movement indicator since 2016. The 2022 edition highlights three countries making notable progress: Burundi, Djibouti and Ethiopia.”
Fewer Barriers to Travel Across Africa
According to Jean-Guy Afrika, AfDB’s Acting Director of the Regional Integration Coordination Office, “The index has tracked changes in African visa regimes from pre-pandemic times to today. Forty-seven percent of intra-African journeys still require a visa, down from 51% in 2021.”
With intra-African trade set to grow under the AfCFTA and continued efforts to improve mobility, more African nations are expected to relax visa policies and strengthen economic ties.
About the African Visa Openness Index
The African Visa Openness Index measures how welcoming African countries are to travelers from other African nations, with a focus on visa policies. Published annually since 2016, the index tracks country rankings over time to show how national policies evolve in supporting intra-African movement. For each country, the index tallies the number of other African countries whose citizens need a visa to enter, can obtain one on arrival, or are exempt altogether. This reveals broader trends in continental mobility and how visa policy shifts directly affect travel ease and country rankings.
A specialist in regulatory monitoring and a content destination expert, she analyzes daily changes in entry formalities to turn complex administrative processes into practical guides. Her role blends ground-level expertise with technical precision to ensure the reliability of the information provided to travelers.