Governments Recognize Benefits of Visa Facilitation

Visa facilitation has experienced strong progress in recent years, particularly through the implementation of visa on arrival policies.

According to the UNWTO’s latest Visa Openness Report, 62% of the world’s population required a traditional visa prior to departure in 2014, down from 77% in 2008. In the same year, 19% of the world’s population was able to enter a destination without a visa, while 16% could receive a visa on arrival, as compared to 17% and 6% in 2008.

The report also shows that the most prevalent facilitation measure implemented has been “visa on arrival”. Over half of all improvements made in the last four years were from “visa required” to “visa on arrival”.

“Visa facilitation is central to stimulating economic growth and job creation through tourism. Although there is much room for improvement, we are pleased to see that a growing number of governments around the world is taking decisive steps in this regard,” said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai.

Countries in the Americas and in Asia Pacific have been at the forefront of visa facilitation, while Europe and Middle East have more restrictive visa policies. Overall, emerging economies tend to be more open than advanced ones, with South-East Asia, East Africa, the Caribbean and Oceania among the most open subregions.

“UNWTO forecasts international tourist arrivals to reach 1.8 billion by 2030, and easier visa procedures will be crucial to attract these travellers, especially tourists from emerging source markets like China, Russia, India and Brazil,” Mr Rifai added.

Research by UNWTO and the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) shows that the G20 economies could boost their international tourist numbers by an additional 122 million, generate an extra US$ 206 billion in tourism exports and create over five million additional jobs by improving visa processes and entry formalities. The same research carried out for the APEC and the ASEAN countries indicates that visa facilitation could generate important gains for both groups, including the creation of 2.6 million jobs in APEC and 650.000 jobs in ASEAN.