Kenya says first ‘visa-free’ tourists arrive in country | Travel

Kenya said on Friday it had welcomed the first group of foreign tourists to arrive under a simplified entry system it hopes will encourage more visitors. The government’s immigration services department said the “girl visa-free arrivals” had landed in Nairobi from Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa and that more were expected to arrive in the coming days. to come (Also read | Iran, Thailand allow visa-free entry to Indian passport holders; List of places to travel without a visa in the holiday season)

Immigration and Citizen Services Principal Secretary Julius Bitok said visa requirements will be waived for all travelers. Kenya regardless of nationality.

Under the new system, travelers apply online for an electronic travel authorization (ETA) and pay a $30 “processing” fee.

“Now … all the countries of the world including Africa, Asia, America, Australia and all over the world, can come without visa,” he said at the launch of the scheme at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi.

Last year, President William Ruto announced that Kenya would become a “visa-free country” and existing requirements would be waived from January.

Even so, just last Tuesday the Kenyan Civil Aviation The authority warned that the new ETA system was “in the process of development and implementation”.

The number of tourist arrivals in 2022 has increased to 1.54 million, still below pre-pandemic levels, according to figures from the tourism ministry. (Also read | 2024 Long Weekends: The best places to travel in India on your long weekends in 2024. See the detailed itinerary)

Kenya Tourism Board chairman Francis Gichaba expressed hope in November that the figure could top two million in the last financial year, surpassing the 2019 figure of 1.9 million.

This story was published by a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.