Kagame follows Ruto's move to abolish visa restrictions for Africans travelling to Rwanda

Rwanda has announced that it will allow Africans to travel visa-free to the East African nation by December 31 this year in a move aimed at boosting the free movement of people and trade in the country.

The announcement made by President Paul Kagame on Thursday comes barely a week after his Kenyan counterpart President William Ruto announced that visitors intending to travel to Kenya in 2024 will no longer require visas.

"By the end of this year, no African will need a visa to enter Kenya. The time has come to understand the importance of doing trade between us," Ruto said last Saturday during the Three Basins Climate Change Conference in Brazzaville, Congo.

Kagame made the announcement in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, where he pitched the potential of Africa as “a unified tourism destination” for a continent that still relies on 60% of its tourists from outside Africa, according to data from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

“Any African can get on a plane to Rwanda whenever they wish and they will not pay a thing to enter our country” said Kagame during the 23rd Global Summit of the World Travel and Tourism Council.

“We should not lose sight of our own continental market,” he said.

“Africans are the future of global tourism as our middle class continues to grow at a fast pace in the decades to come.”

Once implemented, Rwanda will become the fourth African country to remove travel restrictions for Africans.

Other countries that have already waived visas to African nationals are Gambia, Benin and Seychelles.

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