The report sheds light on the evolving landscape of travel facilitation. It includes the Tourism Visa Openness Index that measures the degree to which destinations facilitate tourism and how open a country is in terms of visa facilitation for tourism purposes. Also, mobility scores are included to indicate to the extent to which citizens around the world are subject to visa policies, as well as an in-depth analysis of the reciprocity of visa policies.

Key findings include1:

Regional Openness Scores:

  • Return to Pre-pandemic openness: Destinations' openness to international travel has rebounded to pre-pandemic levels following the lifting of COVID-19 related travel restrictions. As a consequence of the pandemic, new forms of travel facilitation, such as "nomadic visas", also appeared.
  • Decline in traditional visa requirements: Fewer people worldwide now require a traditional visa to travel, falling from 77% in 2008 to 59% in 2018, and then to 47% in 2023.
  • Visa-exempt travel: 21% of the world population do not need any form of visa, an increase from 17% in 2008 and 20% in 2018.
  • Visa on arrival: 14% of the world population can apply for visa on arrival, an increase from 6% in 2008. and 15% in 2018.
  • eVisas: 18% of the world population can apply for eVisas, an increase from 3% in 2013 and 7% in 2018.

The report looks at visa regulations for tourism by region, highlighting:

  • Asia and the Pacific had the highest openness score of all world regions.
  • The most open sub-regions are South East Asia, East Africa and the Caribbean.
  • The greatest increase in openness since the last report in 2018 was observed in South Asia and West Africa.
  • The most restrictive regions remain Central and North Africa, North America and Northern and Western Europe.
  • Visa exemptions are particularly prevalent in the Caribbean and Central America.
  • Visa on arrival policies is common in East Africa, South Asia, South East Asia and West Africa.
  • Traditional visa requests in the Middle East decreased from 71% of the global population in 2015 to 57% in 2023.
  • eVisas are prevalent in West and East Africa and South Asia.

Recommendations for streamlined travel

The report underscores the pivotal role of visa policy improvements in fostering tourism growth. Key recommendations include increased integration of tourism perspectives into visa strategies, targeted visa-exemption programs for low-risk traveler markets and expanded visa on arrival facilities. In addition, clear communication on visa policies is vital, along with a streamlined visa application process, accelerated processing times and optimized entry procedures for an enhanced visitor experience.

Related Links

1. Data collection and validation took place January to May 2023.

About UN Tourism

The World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism) is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism.

As the leading international organization in the field of tourism, UN Tourism promotes tourism as a driver of economic growth, inclusive development and environmental sustainability and offers leadership and support to the sector in advancing knowledge and tourism policies worldwide.

Our Priorities

Mainstreaming tourism in the global agenda: Advocating the value of tourism as a driver of socio-economic growth and development, its inclusion as a priority in national and international policies and the need to create a level playing field for the sector to develop and prosper.

Promoting sustainable tourism development: Supporting sustainable tourism policies and practices: policies which make optimal use of environmental resources, respect the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities and provide socio-economic benefits for all.

Fostering knowledge, education and capacity building: Supporting countries to assess and address their needs in education and training, as well as providing networks for knowledge creation and exchange.

Improving tourism competitiveness: Improving UN Tourism Members' competitiveness through knowledge creation and exchange, human resources development and the promotion of excellence in areas such as policy planning, statistics and market trends, sustainable tourism development, marketing and promotion, product development and risk and crisis management.

Advancing tourism's contribution to poverty reduction and development: Maximizing the contribution of tourism to poverty reduction and achieving the SDGs by making tourism work as a tool for development and promoting the inclusion of tourism in the development agenda.

Building partnerships: Engaging with the private sector, regional and local tourism organizations, academia and research institutions, civil society and the UN system to build a more sustainable, responsible and competitive tourism sector.

Our Structure

Members: An intergovernmental organization, UN Tourism has 160 Member States, 6 Associate Members, 2 Observers and over 500 Affiliate Members.

Organs: The General Assembly is the supreme organ of the Organization. The Executive Council take all measures, in consultation with the Secretary-General, for the implementation of the decisions and recommendations of the General Assembly and reports to the Assembly.

Secretariat: UN Tourism headquarters are based in Madrid, Spain. The Secretariat is led by the Secretary-General and organized into departments covering issues such as sustainability, education, tourism trends and marketing, sustainable development, statistics and the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), destination management, ethics and risk and crisis management. The Technical Cooperation and Silk Road Department carries out development projects in over 100 countries worldwide, while the Regional Departments for Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and the Middle East serve as the link between UN Tourism and its 160 Member States. The Affiliate Members Department represents UN Tourism's 500 plus Affiliate members.

UN Tourism Communications Department
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UN Tourism