Uganda misses out among Africa's 'most open' countries for travel

The report by Henley & Partners titled Henley Global Mobility Report 2023 Q3 ranks all 199 countries and territories worldwide according to the number of nationalities they permit entry into their territories without a prior visa.

The report is based on official and exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and was sourced from Seth Onyango at Bird story agency.

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According to the index, 12 of the top 20 most open countries are in Africa. Of the 12, Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Rwanda and Seychelles share the first place with a 100% openness score.

The seven countries allow all 198 other nationalities to enter their borders without a visa.

Other African countries that made it to the top 20 include Cape Verde Islands, Madagascar, Mauritania, Somalia and Togo, with openness scores ranging from 99.49% to 89.39%.

The index shows a positive correlation between a country’s openness and its own citizens’ travel freedom, as measured by the Henley Passport Index (HPI).

Case in point, Seychelles, which is the most open country in Africa, also has the most powerful passport on the continent, ranking 24th globally with visa-free access to 155 destinations.

Mauritius, which ranks ninth on the openness index, also ranks 29th on the passport index with 148 destinations.

There are also surprising contrasts between countries’ openness and their own passport power.

Japan, for example, which has lost its top spot on the passport index to Singapore this week, ranks only 63rd on the openness index with a 51.52% score. The US, which ranks eighth on the passport index with 184 destinations, ranks even lower on the openness index at 78th place with a 22.22% score.

“South Africans sit somewhere in the middle of the global mobility spectrum with access to 106 destinations visa-free, which seems relatively high at almost 50% of the globe, but their passports give them access to only 15% of global GDP,” notes Dr Christian H. Kaelin, Chairman of Henley & Partners.

With increased openness and ease of doing business, African nations are becoming more attractive destinations for international tourists, investors, and businesspeople, thereby expanding their global reach. Africa is striving to promote intra-African travel and trade, and already, the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) is gaining traction and once fully implemented would become the world’s largest single market.

Africa’s dominant presence on Henley’s index could underscore a remarkable shift in the dynamics of global tourism.