Three EA nations back single tourist visa bid

Three East African states are on the verge of launching a single tourist visa to ease the movement of visitors across national borders and make it easier for the tourism industry to offer multi-destination packages.

According to the Coordinator of the East African Tourism Platform (EATP), Ms Waturi Matu, there were concerns about how to split the revenue, possible loss of money and on screening of visitors.

“It’s taken a while, but Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya have seen that the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages,” she said.

Moves to facilitate tourists across the EAC borders were given fresh impetus in June when the presidents of Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda met and agreed to strengthen integration and co-operation to spur trade.

“Rwanda will be in charge of designing the visa. The plan is to have it launched in January next year, with Tanzania and Burundi free to join at any time,” she said.

According to a statement by TradeMark East Africa, a tourist will be able to buy a visa for the three countries for Sh8,400 ($100) instead of three visas for Sh12,600 ($150).

The savings for couples and those with children, the main tourism unit, is therefore substantial.

“Tourism is a key source of income for the East African Community and we support the East African Tourism Platform precisely so it can lobby to make the borders between members states ‘thinner’ and less bureaucratic,” said the CEO of TradeMark East Africa, Mr Frank Matsaert.

The governments and EATP hope the move will help lift their share of international tourism arrivals. It is an increasingly competitive and cut-price market and tourism operators see the single visa as a first step towards winning more African-bound visitors.
EATP’s goals include an open skies policy to break down airline protectionism by member states.

CUT BUREAUCRACY
“A visitor pays Sh8,4000 ($1,000) to come to East Africa and then finds that it costs another Sh33,600 ($400) to go to another EAC state, another Sh33,600 ($400) for a third and so on. This doesn’t encourage long stays and multi-destination packages,” Ms Waturi said.

Another EATP goal is to cut the bureaucracy for tourist bus operators. At present, for instance, Tanzania will only allow Tanzanian-registered vehicles into its national parks.

The principal secretary in Kenya’s Ministry of Commerce and Tourism, Mr Mohamed Ibrahim, told a World Tourism Organisation meeting in August that the three countries had also agreed to allow their citizens to use their national identity cards to cross borders.