It is now easy for Rwandans willing to travel and enjoy the beautiful sceneries of Barbados of the Caribbean. The country has waived Visa requirements for eight African countries including Rwanda.
Barbados Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Senator, Dr Jerome Walcott, announced that the government has cancelled visa for citizens of several African countries which will be implemented with immediate effect.
The other countries include Cameroon, Ethiopia, Liberia, Morocco, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Ghana from which Barbados receives a lot of visitors and has several ties.
The Minister told journalists last week that Barbados is looking opening up to more countries and particularly those with vibrant economies.
“We have made a pledge, and we are moving towards establishing a mission in Accra, Ghana before the end of this year,” he said.
The country is also looking at bringing Africa and the Caribbean a step closer as the two share similarities through a common history and could work together to project the black community.
“We recognize in terms of travel that the stipulations for visas are sometimes a deterrent for tourists and those seeking to establish business with the country, they find it fairly complicated. In this regard, the Cabinet of Barbados agreed to remove the visa requirements for several countries in different parts of the world,” he is reported to have said at a press conference last week.
The visa exemption has also been extended to other countries across the world including the Gulf States of Bahrain, Jordan, Oman and Qatar as well as the Asian countries of Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and India.
In 2018, contribution of travel and tourism to GDP for Barbados was 34.9 % equivalent to about US$1.06 billion.
Though Barbados contribution of travel and tourism to GDP fluctuated substantially in recent years, it tended to decrease through 1999 – 2018 period ending at 34.9 % in 2018.
With the COVID-19 pandemic shuttering tourism industry globally, Barbados must forge new strategies to attract tourists.
Source: Taarifa Rwanda