The 2022 Africa Visa Openness Index (AVOI) report shows African countries making progress in their freedom of travel policies, most of which had been severely curtailed by the Covid-19 crisis.

The annual publication, prepared by the African Development Bank Group in collaboration with the African Union Commission, is now in its 7th edition and was launched on Sunday on the sidelines of the 2022 African Economic Conference in Mauritius.

The report tracks visa policies adopted by African governments on three main criteria: whether entry to citizens from other African countries is visa-free, if a visa on arrival can be obtained, and whether travellers are required to obtain visas ahead of traveling to other African countries.

This year’s report underlines the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in the last two years (2020 and 2021) during which most countries restricted movement, both domestically and for international travel. Restrictions on international travel ranged from closing entire borders to quarantines, screening measures, and bans on visitors from countries deemed “high risk.”

Domestic restrictions included a gamut of measures such as prohibitions on travelling between provinces, bans on non-essential movement, curfews, and rules that limited gatherings.

The 2022 report reflects on renewed signs of progress: 10 countries have improved their visa openness score over the past year, and visa openness on the continent now exceeds that recorded during the year prior to the Covid-19 pandemic and is in line with the peak score achieved in 2020.

Progressive visa policies that increase visa-free entry or to visa on arrival policies, will ensure that this positive trend continues. The use of technology and a greater adoption of e-Visa systems will help fast-track the ease at which travellers can cross borders.

Highlights of the 2022 Africa Visa Openness Index

African travel has become more open to African citizens in 2022, with fewer restrictions overall. There is now an even split between travel that is visa free, and travel where a visa may be obtained on arrival at the destination country.

• Three countries—Benin, The Gambia and the Seychelles—offer visa-free entry to Africans of all other countries. In 2016 and 2017, only one country did so.
• 24 African countries offer an eVisa—5 more than five years ago.
• 36 countries have improved or maintained their Visa Openness Index score since 2016.
• 50 countries have maintained or improved their Visa Openness Index score relative to 2021, usually after removing some of the visa policy restrictions implemented during the pandemic.
• 48 countries out of 54—the vast majority of African countries—now offer visa-free travel to the nationals of at least one other African country.
• 42 countries offer visa-free travel to the nationals of at least 5 other African countries.

Interestingly, lower income countries account for a large share of the countries that make up the top-20 ranked countries in 2022 with liberal visa policies: 45% of countries in the top-20 on the index are classified as low-income countries, while a further 45% of countries are classified as lower middle-income.

EVisas allow prospective travelers to apply for a visa from the comfort of their home or workplace ahead of travel, streamline the application process reduce time at borders, provide a greater measure of certainty ahead of travel, reduce the need to submit a passport for processing to consular offices, and make travel safer and more secure.

African Union Commission Deputy Chairperson Dr. Monique Nsanzabaganwa said: “This edition links free movement to the development of regional value chains, investments, trade in services and the AfCFTA. There is greater recognition that human mobility is key to Africa’s integration efforts.”

African Development Bank Group Acting Vice President in charge of Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade, remarked: “The Africa Visa Openness Index has been tracking visa openness as a measure of the freedom of movement since 2016. This year’s edition—the seventh—shows many African countries having greatly simplified their visa regime over the past year.”

The 2022 edition of the Report showcases three countries that have made the most progress in their visa openness, namely Burundi, Djibouti and Ethiopia. Ethiopia in particular has risen several places on the index to regain her position in the continent’s top 20 performers after removing the temporary measures instituted in 2021.

In an innovation, the report provides an analysis of free movement of persons at regional economic community level in Africa. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the East African Community are the most open communities, with ECOWAS hosting eight of the top ten countries.

Commenting on the report, African Development Bank Group Acting Director in charge of the Regional Integration Coordination Office Jean-Guy Afrika, said: “The Africa Visa Openness Index has tracked the evolution of visa regimes on the African continent from before the pandemic to today. As the 2022 report shows, African countries are dismantling many of the measures imposed during the pandemic. Indeed, on the whole, the continent has returned to a level of visa openness last seen just before the pandemic began.”

Some key statistics:

• For 27% of intra-Africa* travel, African citizens do not need a visa, up from 25% in 2021.
• For 27% of intra-Africa* travel, African citizens can obtain a visa on arrival, up from 24% in 2021.
• For 47% of intra-Africa* travel, African citizens are still required to obtain a visa before travelling, an improvement of the 51% in 2021.

*Intra-Africa travel refers to travel by African citizens between African countries.

Source: AfDB

Authorities in Kenya and Eritrea have reached an agreement to facilitate the travel process by lifting the visa requirements for citizens of each other’s countries.

According to both countries’ authorities, the new decision would further tighten the bilateral relations, and also facilitate the travel process.

The decision was reached at a meeting held between the President of Kenya, William Ruto as well as his counterpart from Eritrea, Isaias Afwerki. The leaders also agreed to tighten cooperation in the African Union, “in the spirit of Pan-Africanism”. 

“We will keep working together to promote regional trade and investment,” President Ruto said.

In addition, they also agreed to cooperate and consult on regional integration and also to safeguard regional peace, as well as the development and security in the Horn of Africa.

The presidents of both countries also discussed the importance of promoting regional trade as well as an investment through developing regional, sea, land and air transport.

At present, all Kenyan citizens are required to have a visa when planning to travel to Eritrea and vice versa, however, the recent changes will contribute to further easing the travel process.

Authorities in Kenya in November announced that they had reached a visa -free agreement with South Africa whose decision will become effective starting from January next year.

Through an agreement reached between both countries’ presidents, it was emphasized that citizens of both countries would be eligible to enter each other’s countries.

Source: EABW News

You probably enjoy flying! However, the same can’t always be said for children, especially those flying alone. If you ever find yourself having to send your child on a flight by themselves, here’s what you need to know.

Unaccompanied minor programs

With flying becoming an increasingly accessible mode of travel, it is more common than you’d expect that, for various reasons, children fly without the accompaniment of a parent or guardian. This is why many airlines these days offer programs for unaccompanied minors.

Services can range from basic chaperoned assistance to more comprehensive travel support, depending on what’s offered by your airline of choice. Generally, all unaccompanied minor programs are designed to cushion a child’s stress and fear of traveling alone and to reassure parents that their child is well taken care of.

Requirements

• Age: Almost all airlines do not allow children under the age of five to fly unaccompanied. Those above five can fly alone – provided the airline has an unaccompanied minor program. However, some airlines require the child to be at least 12. If your child is aged 16 and older, they will be considered an adult, so chaperoned services will not be available to them.
• Documentation: Apart from your child’s passport, you will also need to provide documents detailing the responsible adult who will be picking up and dropping off your child. Your child will only be allowed to leave with the nominated adult at the arrival point if relevant identification documents, such as a passport or driver’s license, are provided.
• Important information: Crucial details, including travel insurance and medical information for allergies and medications, should be provided to the airline prior to the trip. It is also advisable that you provide more than one emergency contact detail should an incident occur during the journey.

Checking in

Right through the check-in process, minors must be accompanied by a responsible adult. Once the child is checked in, a member of the cabin crew will then guide them through security and onto the aircraft. Minors are given priority boarding so that they can get settled on the plane before the rest of the passengers board.

Parents or guardians are encouraged to remain at the airport until after the departure time, just in case the flight is unable to depart for any reason.

Extra precautions

While these rules and regulations generally apply to most airlines that offer chaperoned services, the level of service can vary. Also, do note that there are often additional costs involved. It’s a good idea to confirm the exact requirements and regulations of the airline you are booking your child’s flight with.

https://d57295122e4cede2e9fb9ab65a9fb060.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html For example, Jetstar recently came under fire for removing an unaccompanied 11-year-old from a flight. The flight booking was originally made through Qantas, the low-cost carrier’s parent company, which allows unaccompanied minors. Jetstar, however, does not allow children under 15 to travel alone.

Source: Simple Flying

Momentum is building behind the Single African Air Transport Market, or SAATM, a flagship project designed to create a single unified air transport market in Africa, organized by the International Air Transport Association.

New routes should be easier to launch without the need for reciprocal services, and 17 African countries have now agreed to test the initiative, out of a total of 35 country signatories (which represents 80 percent of the existing aviation market in Africa.)

They are: Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, South Africa, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Ghana, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo, Zambia, Niger and Gabon,

The 17 airlines will now open their air transport markets to each other as part of a new “SAATM Project Implementation Pilot.” According to reports, Kenya Airways will target corporate travel in a new Ghana-Senegal route, starting December 11.

The pilot routes come as more steps are being taken to create a new continental airline following a pact between South African Airways and Kenya Airways. Earlier this month a long-term business proposal was struck, which includes migration policies and trading privileges.

The air transport plan could eventually generate $4.2 billion in additional gross domestic product), 600,000 new jobs, a 27 percent reduction in fares and make a contribution to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, according to reports. For example, currently some routes between neigboring African countries involve connecting flights to nearby major international hubs.

The Single African Air Transport Market was established in 2018 and is considered as a step towards the full liberalization of the continent’s air transport market.

Source: Skift

Countries must see younger travellers as an investment despite new obstacles to growing this market sector, experts have urged. A WTM London audience heard how younger travellers were the first to return after Covid and collectively had the most disposable income.

Sally Cope, Tourism Australia’s regional general manager, UK & Northern Europe, said Australia had long seen the value of younger travellers, backpackers and those taking a working holiday: “It gives people their first taste of travel, it’s an investment.”

She said pre-Covid, 250,000 jobs were filled in Australia under the working visa scheme and that only 40,000 of these workers had remained when borders closed. “Our industry noticed that.”
Long-stay visitor spend often exceeded that of luxury travellers, she said, with the average at around AUS $10,000. Recognising this, Australia has extended its working visa scheme to those aged up to 35 and for three years. The requirement to do farm work in the second year has been removed.

“That opens up a whole new audience of digital nomads and those with a mid-career gap.”

Steve Lowy, chair of the British Educational Travel Association (BETA), said there were other benefits to communities from youth travel. More than other types, youths ended to stay in more suburban locations and buy locally, spreading the benefits, he said.

There were more spin-offs: “I have 1,000 students in London. I would say 40% of their parents have come and visited them. There is no marketing needed.”

Andrew Brown, the World Travel & Tourism Council’s New Zealand-born director of commercial and membership, said his country’s attitude to backpackers was not as positive as Australia’s. “They are seen as low value travellers, but they are not, because they spread awareness.” This meant parents often visited after their children had shown them what there was to see.

The panel advised countries to offer ‘landing packages’ which sorted out initial accommodation, banking and safety worries for young visitors. This was an issue now parents were in constant touch on social media. “Smooth that out and you will go for gold,” said Brown.

He praised Portugal’s traveller employment scheme. “Portugal looked at the gap in the market that they didn’t have yet.” He added Canada was also proactive, with 35 job schemes for overseas youth, while the UK had six.

Source: Breaking Travel News

Kenya and South Africa, some of the two strongest economies on the African continent, have agreed to reduce barriers to cross-border movement by allowing visa free travel between them.

The pact agreed upon by Kenya’s President William Ruto and his South African counterpart on November 9, 2022, will resolve a long-standing visa dispute between the two countries. With the formalisation, Kenyans will, from January 2023, be eligible for visa free travel to South Africa for up to three months (90 days) in a calendar year.

Already, South Africans get free visas on arrival in the East African nation, a gesture Kenyans have wanted to be reciprocated for a long time. For Kenyans travelling to South Africa, they were required to pay US$40 for the visa while they also had to provide proof they had sufficient funds and had booked return flight tickets.

The Kenya and South Africa visa deal will take effect on January 1, kicking off the visa free travel arrangement.

At the time of the announcement, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was in Kenya for his first official trip to the country at the invitation of President Ruto.

Ramaphosa said they discussed the visas issue between Kenya and South Africa to allow Kenyans to visit the Southern African nation visa-free basis.

“This will officially start on January 1, 2023, and it will be available to Kenyans for a 90-day period per year,” he said.

In addition, the Kenyan and South African leaders directed their respective trade ministers to work on removing barriers limiting trade between the two African countries. The two countries are also working to address trade barriers to increase business and trade cooperation which will now be easier with visa free travel.

Following a meeting between Presidents Ruto and Ramaphosa, they said that Kenya and South Africa will deal with non-tariff barriers like the bureaucracy in licensing, regulation restrictions and sanctions which will allow the opening up for business in industries, export of agricultural produce and logistics.

The two leaders signed four instruments, and the removal of the trade barriers agreement was part of this to foster cooperation.

President Ruto said that with his counterpart they agreed to develop a sustainable mechanism for the identification, monitoring and resolution of non-trade barriers that limit trade potential between Kenya and South Africa.

Additionally, three memoranda of understanding between Kenya and South Africa were signed and a cooperation of correctional sciences agreement was inked on housing and human settlement and cooperation between the Kenya School of Government and the South African National School of Governments on audio-visual co-production.

The decision to allow Kenyans visa-free travel to South Africa could boost Kenya’s passport which was ranked among the favourite passports in Africa in July by the Henley Passport Index Report.

Kenya was ranked 76th globally, having improved by one point from 77th last year.

The Henley Passport Index mobility score stood at 72. The score measures the number of countries a passport holder from a certain nation can travel to without a visa.

In Africa, the Kenyan passport was ranked the most powerful after Seychelles, Mauritius, South Africa, Botswana, eSwatini, Malawi and Lesotho.

Even as Kenya and South Africa relax their visa requirements, Africans continue harbouring hope that there will be an African Passport for every African to enable visa free travel on the continent.

An African passport would be instrumental in relaxing travel restrictions and breaking barriers in mobility and intra-African trade.

The African passport is a flagship project of the African Union (AU)’s Agenda 2063, which envisions an integrated continent that is politically united and based on the ideals of Pan-Africanism with the vision of Africa’s Renaissance.

An African passport would help collapse both physical and invisible barriers that have thwarted and limited the integration of the African people. It would be a key component of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) which could immensely benefit from visa free travel.

To test the systems, the AU unified African passport was launched in July 2016 at the 27th Ordinary session of the AU held in Kigali, Rwanda. It was scheduled to be availed to Africans by 2020, but with the pandemic, the plans seem to have been shelved.

Currently, only AU officials, diplomats and government leaders have been issued the passport, which holds the potential to bring down Africa’s physical barriers to visa free travel.

On successful launch, the African passport will become a common document that will replace the nationally issued AU member states’ passports. It will exempt bearers from having to obtain any visas for all 55 African states easing visa free travel.

Just like it has been happening with nationally issued documents, the three types of AU passports to be issued will include the Ordinary Passport, which is 32 pages and valid for five years. This document will be issued to citizens intended for occasional travel like business trips and vacations making visa free travel a reality.

Government institutions with officials travelling on official business will be issued the official or Service passport will be issued to officials attached to.

At the same time, the two leaders hailed Ethiopia’s peace agreement signed last week brokered by the African Union in South Africa.

Ruto and Ramaphosa appealed to the Ethiopian parties to fully implement the agreement for a lasting political settlement.

Source: The Exchange

London Heathrow, the UK’s largest airport, cautioned that demand is unlikely to return to pre-COVID levels for “a number of years” and indicated caps on passenger numbers were not fully off the table.  

Heathrow said it expected total passenger numbers for 2022 to reach between 60 million and 62 million, around 25% less than 2019. 

“Headwinds of a global economic crisis, war in Ukraine and the impact of COVID-19 mean we are unlikely to return to pre-pandemic demand for a number of years, except at peak times,” the airport said in a statement on financial results for the first nine months of 2022.  

Heathrow also said while it was removing a cap on passenger capacity from October 30, 2022, it was working with airlines on a plan that would “align supply and demand” on a small number of days during the busy Christmas travel period.  

The airport implemented passenger caps over summer 2022, effectively preventing airlines from selling too many tickets, due to staff shortages.  

“This would encourage demand into less busy periods, protecting the heavier peaks, and avoiding flight cancellations due to resource pressures,” the airport commented in the statement on October 26, 2022.  

For the nine months to September 30, 2022, Heathrow continued to make losses, but much reduced compared to the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its underlying losses reached £0.4 billion ($462 million) in the period, adding to losses already incurred over the last two years of £4 billion ($4.6 billion). 

Source: Aerotime Hub

Travel agencies have been shutting down operations in Nigeria over the last six months due to the challenge of trapped funds.

Also, some of the travel agencies have reduced their number of staff within the period as some of the airlines, especially European, American, and the Middle East, including Ethiopian Airlines from Africa have shut their Global Distribution Systems (GDS) against the travel agencies.

The shutting down of the GDS automatically stops travel agents who are regarded as travel partners to airlines from booking flights for their clients through the platform.

The travel agents get some commission for each booking made for air travellers through the airlines’ GDS. The commission varies from one airline to another.

Travel Agents struggling to survive

When Nairametrics visited one of the major travel agents in Lagos over the weekend, it was a hopeless situation. All the staff, including the chief executive officer (CEO) of the company, wore a forlorn look. There is no hope in sight.

• The agency, which used to be a beehive of activities, was almost a ghost yard.
• The number of staff had reduced drastically by over 30%, while a few staff that were on duty only tapped on the mouse and laptops sitting on white tables in front of them aimlessly.
• The travel agency, like others, no longer has access to many of the foreign airlines’ GDS.
• Airlines like Delta, Air France/KLM, Emirates, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa, Turkish, and Qatar among others have closed down their GDS against the travel agency because of the unpleasant situation of trapped funds.

What this means

The implication of this is that travel agencies will no longer be able to sell air tickets to their willing clients, while passengers are compelled to buy tickets at the black-market rate of N730 to a dollar to purchase air tickets.

• The bulk of commissions of travel agencies is earned from foreign airlines. The situation since January has further compounded their challenges as bills continue to rise, yet no resource is earned.

The CEO of the travel agency, who preferred to remain anonymous for fear of being victimized, in interaction with Nairametrics painted a gloomy picture of the whole scenario.

• The company, with its headquarters in Lagos Island, said all efforts by the umbrella body of travel agencies in Nigeria, the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) to intervene in the last three months have proved abortive.
• He said almost two months after the federal government directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to release $265 million, representing 50% of the trapped funds, the situation was yet to abate.
• The CEO said air traffic had dropped on international routes in Nigeria, while the airlines have continued to squeeze the travel agencies out of business through their antics.

The helmsman also said most of their clients, especially those who have their children in Europe and America for education purposes, have begun their withdrawal and moved to institutions in West Africa in order to save the cost of airfares.

• He said: “Most of the travel agencies are closing shop because they can’t pay their staff. They don’t even have the funds again. Most of their clients can no longer buy dollars. Some of them are even returning their children to African countries, including Togo and the Benin Republic. That money they would have paid to buy tickets for their children is enough to put them in schools in Ghana, Benin, and other countries within the continent.
• “So, that has affected the travel agencies tremendously and most of them are crying daily. Their accounts are in red and they are at the Save-Our-Soul (SOS) level now. NANTA too is not folding its arms, but it can’t embark on any action without the support of the majority of its members.

What NANTA should do

He also commented on what the industry association should be doing to address the situation.

• “NANTA will react officially to all this nonsense the airlines are doing. The leadership is under pressure. The airlines have not been fair to the agencies at all in this case. They are suffocating the people who are also their trade partners, which does not seem to be right. This challenge is not peculiar to Nigeria alone. Why are the airlines not reacting the same way in other countries? This is where they can even feed their aircraft and go.”

Besides, a top staff with one of the leading airlines in Africa said the airline was yet to get any amount of money from its trapped funds in Nigeria since January.

According to him, the airline had over $160 million as trapped funds in the country, while efforts by the carrier to recover the sum had failed despite the involvement of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

• He, however, said unlike some of the foreign airlines that removed the travel agencies from their GDS, the airline refused to do so because of the consequence on the travel agencies and the effect on the traveling public.
• He also insisted that the carrier would not stop the Nigerian routes, but appealed to the federal government to intervene in the situation to prevent a total collapse of the industry.

To curb the crisis, he said the airline now pays for some services in naira, rather than dollars.

• “We now pay for fueling and some other charges in naira, but there are some critical ones that have to be paid in dollars and we have a lot of money stuck in Nigeria.
• “The money is in the hands of the CBN, we are not earning interest on it, yet we can’t get it. The airlines are losing big time,” he said.

What you should know

Just last month, NANTA described as exploitative the current foreign airline’s airfare of over N3 million for economy class tickets.

• President of NANTA, Mrs. Susan Akporiaye at a news conference in Lagos had said an economy flight ticket of N300,000 now sells for N1.5 million, while another N1 million is charged for change of travel dates.
• Executive members of the NANTA who were part of the news conference expressed disappointment with the action taken by foreign airlines to frustrate Nigerian passengers and destroy their businesses.
• They said the foreign airlines have no right to capitalise on their trapped funds to exploit the market in the name of protecting their business.
• Akporiaye, while appreciating the response to the release of some funds, urged the government to, as a matter of urgency, open further windows of engagement by calling a meeting with all parties.
• Akporiaye stated that the foreign airlines were unhappy because they were paid short of the 25% of the trapped funds released while others were yet to get their money.

She emphasised that there were transparency and trust issues in the matter.

• “This now is creating trust issues with the airlines; there is no transparency and so the airlines are not confident that we really mean to pay them this money, hence the reason why they are still holding forth and they are still watching to see how it goes,” she said.

Source: Nairametrics