UN Tourism: Traditional Visa Requirements Decline Making Global Travel Easier

Photo source: UN Tourism

More countries are easing visa requirements making global travel easier, said UN Tourism (formerly known as UNWTO) this week.

More specifically, according to the “Tourism Visa Openness Report 2023”, destinations’ openness to international travel has recovered reaching pre-pandemic levels after Covid restrictions were dropped. At the same time, new forms of travel documentation emerged, including “nomadic visas”.

According to the report, the most restrictive regions were Central and North Africa, North America, and Northern and Western Europe.

While the most open of all world regions, which means fewer visa demands, were Asia and the Pacific. High on the list of “openness” were South East Asia, East Africa, and the Caribbean.

South Asia and West Africa marked the greatest increase in openness since the last report in 2018.

The report also found that visa exemptions were prevalent in the Caribbean and Central America; visa-on-arrival policies were common in East Africa, South Asia, South East Asia, and West Africa; and eVisas in West and East Africa, and South Asia.

Meanwhile, in the Middle East, traditional visa requests dropped by 71 percent of the global population in 2015 to 57 percent in 2023.

In terms of tourism visa openness, Greece received a score of 23.56 percent on the Tourism Visa Openness Index, which assesses how countries facilitate tourism through visa policies.

Looking ahead, UN Tourism analysts underlined the importance of visa policy improvements in order to facilitate tourism growth and ensure an enhanced visitor experience. Key recommendations include increased integration of tourism perspectives into visa strategies, targeted visa-exemption programs for low-risk traveler markets, and expanded visa-on-arrival facilities.

Additionally, they said clear communication on visa policies is vital as well as a streamlined visa application process, accelerated processing times, and optimized entry procedures.