Businesses upbeat over new visa regime

International conference organisers are upbeat following the last week’s announcement of the new visa regime. Under the new arrangement, travellers from across the world will from January 1, 2018, receive a 30-day visa on arrival at the country’s entry points. The development comes at a time when countries across the world are closing their borders, with most citing reasons such as insecurity and influx of migrants. However, Rwanda is proceeding with the least taken path in regards to visa policy to increase openness. On social media platforms, the move has been trending with most, saying that it ought to set the pace for countries across the world. Global and local international conference organisers are upbeat on the new policy as it will not only ease their business but will also bring more international forums to Rwanda. Conference organisers who spoke to The New Times said that among the major determining factors that influence conference hosting include accessibility of a country. With most major international forums having foreign delegations of about 500 people and above, the visa process can be a deal breaker. For most events organisers who have been involved across Africa, the process could take months and often locks out a section of delegates especially in instances where there is no embassy in the delegates’ country. Matthew Weihs, the managing director of Bench Events, a global firm that has brought the Africa Hotel Investment summit in Rwanda for two years in a row, said that the development is likely to increase the number of summits hosted in the country. Weihs, who is involved in organising conferences across the world, said that often a destination attractiveness is determined by good accessibility, safety, connectivity and infrastructure. “As an international conferences organiser, hosting events in Africa, our key criteria to picking a host destination comes down to good accessibility, safety, connectivity and infrastructure. It was satisfying to see how Rwanda had focused on improving their service around these areas and now, with the visa on arrival, I’ve no doubt the destination will become more attractive to more and more event organisers,” Weihs said. Other events organisers say the new visa regime will go a long way in easing international events organising processes enabling them to deliver better quality. Evangelina Kayinamura, the chief executive of Clarity Communications, a local firm involved in events organising, said the move is a significant incentive for international event planners to bring their events into the country. “The issuance of 30 day visas to [visitors from] all countries upon arrival is a significant incentive for international event planners to bring their events to Rwanda. We at Clarity believe it will make Rwanda a more attractive MICE destination,” she said. Kayinamura added that the move will also free up time and resources that would have otherwise been used up in visa facilitation to improve events quality. “Visa facilitation in 2018 will cease to be one of the items on our event checklist, freeing our time and resources to attend to designing and creating memorable events,” Kayinamura added. Previous visa adjustments have seen significant rise in the number of visitors coming into the country. For instance, when Rwanda moved to issue visa upon arrival to all Africans, the number of African nationals that were issued visa on arrival at Rwandan entry points increased from 31,054 in 2013 to 77,377 in 2016. This trend could mean more business to the national carrier, RwandAir. RwandAir looks to increased bookings RwandAir deputy chief executive for corporate affairs, Yvonne Makolo, told The New Times that the national carrier is upbeat on the development as it is likely to increase their clientele. “This is very positive, already Rwanda was in the lead in opening up to the rest of the continent with the visa on arrival policy for African passport holders. This is going to be very positive for the aviation sector. RwandAir is hoping to leverage on it. We are hoping to see higher traffic as it will be easier for everybody to access Rwanda,” she said. Mokolo noted that visa regimes and their impact on the airline business featured prominently at the recently held 49th African Airlines Association (AFRAA) general assembly. “During the recent aviation conference, there was a lot of discussion on the restriction of travel with the visa regimes of most countries being an issue. For Rwanda to take the lead with this is definitely a game changer. We are looking forward to the impacts its going to have,” she added. Currently, an average of 350 online visa applications are received per day and processed within three days. Often, openness and accessibility spark fears of terrorism and insecurity related challenges as well as immigrants influx. The 2017 African Visa openness index report by the African Development Bank noted that countries across the continent, especially in Northern and Southern Africa, often cite fear of insecurity and immigrants influx as reasons for hesitance to open up Yves Butera, the head of communications and customer relations at the Directorate General of Immigration and Emigration, however, debunked the myth, saying that Rwanda’s openness has not brought about security challenges. Easing openness, he said, ensures visitors do not have to result into illegal means to enter the country. “Opening borders goes hand in hand with security and Rwanda has not become less secure as a result of opening up. Removing visa restrictions may be a preventive measure where travellers are encouraged to use legal channels instead of resorting to illegal ways that are difficult to control,” Butera said. “Also, there are mechanisms to address challenges such as closely working with stakeholders to improve communication and coordination among stakeholders in cross-border movements.” editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Businesses upbeat over new visa regime