THE World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has voiced hopes that countries across the world will continue working on visa facilitation to ease tourism flows, even as Asia-Pacific and the Americas have been named as the most open regions in 2012 in terms of tourist visa requirements.
When travelling to Asia-Pacific, 20 per cent of the world’s population do not require visas, 19 per cent are eligible for visas on arrival (VoAs) and another seven per cent can obtain e-visas. For the Americas, these figures stand at 31 per cent, eight per cent and one per cent respectively.
Although 21 per cent of the global population does not need a visa to enter Europe – the least open region – only six per cent can apply for VoAs and the continent has no e-visa system.
Globally, 63 per cent of the world population must secure visas before travel, 16 per cent can apply for VoAs and two per cent are allowed to get e-visas.
The silver lining is that recent years have seen progress towards visa facilitation. Between 2008 and 2012, the percentage of the global population that required a traditional tourism visa for travel fell from 77 to 63 per cent.
Since 2010, 43 destinations have scaled down processes from mandatory visas to allowing VoAs, e-visas or scrapping the need for the document altogether, affecting 5,080 destination-source market relations.
According to research by UNWTO and the World Travel and Tourism Council, improving visa processes could generate an extra US$206 billion in tourism receipts and up to 5.1 million more jobs by 2015 within G20 economies alone.
Said UNWTO secretary-general, Taleb Rifai: “An overall restrictive visa policy means lost opportunities for economic growth and jobs, which tourism could bring to destinations. Travellers regard visas as a formality which entails a cost. This can be a deterrent to travel if costs – whether monetary or indirect – including distance, wait times and service, exceed a certain threshold.”
