Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera said Friday a visa fee waiver for citizens from 79 countries. including the US, UK and China would result in a tourism boom to the southeastern African nation.
“Apart from the waiver, we have entered into bilateral agreements with other nations for their airlines to fly directly into Malawi,” Chakwera told parliament.
He said Mozambique, Uganda and Kuwait national airlines have committed to start flying passengers to Malawi.
“So. I expect the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to also ease other obstacles that affect travel into the country,” he said as he delivered his third State of the Nation Address at the start of the 2024 – 25 budget meeting of parliament.
Chakwera’s comments follow the addition of 30 countries whose nationals are free to enter Malawi without visas.
The amended Immigration Act shows that countries that have been added include Russia, France and Italy.
Previously visa-exempted countries were Israel, Jamaica, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Zambia, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
Minister of Tourism Vera Kamtukule said the removal of the visa requirement for the countries will help to boost the economy as well as the tourism sector.
She noted that visa requirements were among the factors affecting tourism to Malawi widely known as “The Warm Heart of Africa.”
“Therefore by removing the visa requirement from our key source markets across the globe, he (Chakwera) is sending a signal that Malawi is open for business in all sectors,” said Kamtukule.
She said about 1 million tourists visited the country last year and the ministry is intensively engaging investors to boost the sector.
Travelers were required to pay $50 per single entry while a multiple entry visa for six months cost $150. A multiple-entry visa for 12 months costs $250.
Malawi has been struggling to tap into the global tourism boom since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, with figures from the World Travel and Tourism Council indicating that in 2021, the country generated $14.6 million from international visitor spending, a decline from $34.2 million in 2020.
Before the pandemic in 2019, Malawi generated $64.7 million in international visitor spending, which is 47% less than the country generated in 2020.
Malawi seeks to grow the number of tourists from the pre-COVID-19 figure of 900,000 to 1.5 million per year by 2030.