Rwanda and The Gambia Lead Africa’s Push for Seamless Intra-Continental Travel
Rwanda has once again cemented its reputation as Africa’s most visa-open country, sharing the top spot with The Gambia in the newly released 2025 Africa Visa Openness Index (AVOI). This achievement marks the third consecutive year that Rwanda has led the continent in facilitating cross-border movement, a distinction attributed to its progressive visa-free regime for all African travelers.
The AVOI, a collaborative initiative between the African Development Bank and the African Union Commission, has tracked the evolution of visa policies across Africa for a decade. The index evaluates how easily African citizens can enter other African countries, providing a clear benchmark for openness and integration efforts. In 2025, Rwanda and The Gambia emerged as joint leaders, while Kenya secured third place and Benin ranked fourth after revising its visa requirements for select countries.
Rwanda’s approach stands out for its simplicity and inclusivity: all African nationals can enter Rwanda without a visa. This policy has not only enhanced the country’s connectivity but also positioned it as a model for regional integration and economic cooperation. The Gambia mirrors this openness, offering visa-free access to all Africans, further strengthening West Africa’s reputation for facilitating intra-continental travel.
The 2025 AVOI report reveals that the overall visa openness score across Africa is 0.445, a figure that, while slightly lower than recent years, still reflects a steady commitment to easing travel restrictions. The index also notes a record high in visa-free travel scenarios, with 814 such arrangements now in place—up from 803 in 2024—representing 28.2 percent of all possible intra-African travel situations. This is the highest level since the index’s inception, signaling incremental but meaningful progress.
Despite these advances, the report highlights that mobility for African citizens remains uneven. In 2025, 20 countries adjusted their visa policies, with 11 improving their openness scores and nine tightening restrictions. The majority—34 countries—maintained their previous policies, underscoring the complex and evolving nature of visa regimes across the continent.
For Rwandan citizens, the benefits of their country’s openness are not always reciprocated. While Rwanda welcomes all Africans without a visa, its own citizens enjoy visa-free access to just 16 African countries, can obtain visas on arrival in another 16, and still require visas for 21 nations. This asymmetry highlights the ongoing need for broader continental cooperation and mutual recognition of open-border policies.
Industry leaders and policymakers see these developments as pivotal for Africa’s economic future. Joy Kategekwa, Director of Regional Integration at the African Development Bank Group, emphasized that visa-free mobility is “full of promise” but requires accelerated action to reach its full potential. She noted that most African migration occurs within the continent, and that facilitating this movement is essential for unlocking economic opportunities, supporting trade, and enabling Africans to pursue their ambitions where they are most needed.
Kategekwa called for creativity and innovation in policy design, urging countries to learn from pioneers like Rwanda and The Gambia. She stressed the importance of building robust systems to manage border flows and address potential risks, rather than avoiding them. This pragmatic approach, she argued, will be key to sustaining and expanding the gains made in visa openness over the past decade.
The implications for Africa’s tourism and hospitality sectors are profound. Easier cross-border travel not only boosts leisure tourism but also supports business, investment, and regional events. For African travel industry professionals, the rise in visa-free scenarios opens new avenues for product development, multi-country itineraries, and cross-border partnerships. As more countries embrace open-border policies, the continent’s collective appeal as a seamless travel destination grows, offering fresh opportunities for airlines, hotels, and tour operators to innovate and expand their reach.
Looking ahead, the challenge will be to maintain momentum and ensure that openness translates into tangible benefits for travelers and businesses alike. The experience of Rwanda and The Gambia demonstrates that bold policy choices can yield significant dividends, both in terms of international reputation and economic growth. As Africa marks a decade of tracking visa openness, the call to action is clear: accelerate reforms, foster collaboration, and build a continent where mobility is a catalyst for shared prosperity.
