After Kenya announced last week that it would grant Africans visa-free entry by the end of the year, Rwanda has followed suit.
“Any African can get on a plane to Rwanda whenever they wish, and they will not pay a thing to enter our country,” said Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
He was speaking at the 23rd Global Summit of the World Travel and Tourism Council, where he spoke about “a unified tourism destination”, reports APnews.com.
Although a timeline for implementing the visa-free system for Africans from other nations entering Rwanda is unclear, the continent is key to the country’s economic strategy. According to stats from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, 60% of Rwanda’s visitors come from outside the continent, presenting a massive opportunity for the East African nation to establish better ties with the rest of Africa.
“We should not lose sight of our own continental market,” said Kagame. “Africans are the future of global tourism as our middle-class continues to grow at a fast pace in the decades to come.”
