Celebrating Benin, Seychelles and The Gambia for being the most open countries in Africa when it comes to travel for African citizens. According to the 2022 Africa Visa Openness Report, the three countries do not require a visa from citizens from any country on the continent.
What you should know: The Africa Visa Openness Index (AVOI) measures the extent to which African countries are open to visitors from other African countries. The index analyzes each country’s visa requirements to show which countries on the continent facilitate travel to their territory.
For each country, the AVOI calculates the number of African countries whose citizens must obtain a visa before travelling there, the number of countries whose citizens may obtain a visa upon arrival, and the number of countries whose citizens do not need a visa to enter. Each country is then assigned a visa openness score and ranked accordingly.
First published in 2016, the AVOI also tracks changes in countries’ scores over time. This shows how countries’ policies are evolving as regards the freedom of movement across Africa, and how visa-related policy changes can have a significant impact on the ease with which citizens of African countries can travel to other countries, and on countries’ ranking on the AVOI. The report also notes other relevant integration developments on the African continent and links these to the movement of persons, where such changes are often complementary to, or indeed dependent on one another.
Data for the 2022 edition was collected in July and August. The main sources of information were the International Air Transport Association and countries’ official websites.
Credit: Mark-Anthony Johnson
