Cameroon’s e-Visa Earns €40M in 18 Months
Discover how Cameroon's digital visa system transformed into a revenue powerhouse, generating over €40 million in just 18 months and setting a continental benchmark for travel facilitation.
Who would have thought it? Cameroon has just unveiled figures that will make heads turn. The e-Visa—once so controversial at its launch—has become a genuine cash cow for state coffers, according to Lejeune Mbella Mbella, Cameroon’s Minister of External Relations.
In just 18 months, the system generated a staggering 29 billion CFA francs, or more than €40 million. A figure that leaves one dizzy and proves—if any proof were still needed—that digitalization is more than a buzzword; it is a genuine engine of economic growth.
The evisacam.com portal to apply for Cameroon’s electronic visa
A success no coincidence
Behind this dazzling success lies a carefully engineered mechanism. Cameroon’s government—often criticized for sluggish bureaucracy—delivered an astonishingly swift rollout. Within months of the January 2023 decree, travelers worldwide could apply for visas with a few clicks. No more endless embassy queues, no more mysteriously vanished paper files—visitors can now arrange their trip to Samuel Eto’o’s homeland comfortably from their sofa.
This straightforward process produced an immediate surge in demand: 144,751 visas issued in 2023, up from just 30,000 the year before.
Multiple benefits for Cameroon’s economy
But the e-Visa is more than a revenue spinner for the state. It has revitalised Cameroon’s entire visitor economy. Hoteliers rub their hands in anticipation, restaurants are packed, and even the smallest souvenir vendors watch their turnover soar. Tourism, long a stepchild of Cameroon’s economy, is now scaling new heights.
Foreign investors feel the benefits, too. No longer deterred by cumbersome paperwork, business meetings in Douala or Yaoundé can be scheduled with the same ease as a weekend in Paris or New York.
Cameroon’s achievement has not gone unnoticed. Regional neighbors are watching closely, with whispers that delegations from neighboring countries are visiting to study the Cameroonian model. A point of national pride that positions Cameroon as a continental pioneer.
So when will you apply for your Cameroon e-Visa and begin exploring the country’s many wonders?
En tant que chargée de relation client, mes missions sont la gestion et le suivi des demandes de visas. Je reste informée des actualités concernant les nouvelles formalités de voyage ainsi que les spécificités des nouveaux visas.
