Paris, France | URN | Uganda has called on African countries to introduce a single tourist visa that would allow international visitors to travel across the continent using one travel document. This is part of the country’s efforts to strengthen tourism cooperation and increase revenue from the sector.
State for Tourism Minister Susan Nakawuki made the call at the African Ministers and Ambassadors Conference which happened during the International and French Travel Market in Paris.
The Minister said that a single tourist visa would make it easier for visitors entering Africa through one country to travel to other destinations, allowing them to experience attractions across different regions while spending more money on the continent.
She said tourists should be able to enter through North Africa, continue to West and East Africa and eventually travel to Southern Africa without facing multiple visa requirements.
“It is embarrassing that as Africans, need visas to visit our own African countries,” she lamented, and proposed a continent-wide tourist visa to enable an international visitor travel across participating African countries on a single visa, arguing that movement would complement efforts by individual countries to market tourism products and encourage visitors to stay longer and spend more across several destinations.
She also identified the high cost of air travel within Africa as another major obstacle to continental tourism. According to Nakawuki, addressing the cost and availability of air connections would enable tourists to crisscross the continent and generate greater economic benefits for African countries.
The minister also called on African countries to stop viewing each other as competitors and instead market the continent as one tourism destination with diverse attractions.
“Much as we are all here to exhibit our individual countries, I believe we are not here to compete against each other, but rather to complement each other,” she observed.
Meanwhile the Ugandan Ambassador to France, Spain and Portugal and Permanent Delegate to UNESCO Doreen Ruth Amule said the push for greater tourism cooperation should also be matched with investment in tourism infrastructure and better packaging of African tourism products.
Amule said Africa has a wide range of attractions, including wildlife, culture, scenery and hospitable communities, but countries need to package and promote these products in ways that appeal to international tourists.
“We have the culture, we have the happy people, we have the sceneries, we have the animals, but how do we package it for the world consumption?” she wondered.
She said infrastructure remains a major factor in determining the competitiveness of African destinations, citing air connections, roads, hotels and other hospitality facilities.
Amule argued that African countries should recognize their different levels of development and work together to address gaps rather than simply competing for tourists.
She also called for greater attention to the image of Africa internationally, arguing that countries need to work collectively to protect and promote the continent’s tourism brand.
The call for a common tourism approach comes amid growing efforts by African destinations to increase international arrivals and retain a larger share of tourism spending within the continent.
The officials argue that such collaboration would present Africa to international travelers as a diverse but interconnected destination, rather than a collection of isolated national tourism markets.
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