Zambia has lifted visa requirement for travellers from several major source markets such as Canada, China, European Union and the United States in a move aimed at injecting life into a tourism sector negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a notice on Sunday, the Zambia Tourism Authority (ZTA) said visitors from Australia, Canada, China, Gulf States, Norway, South Korea, UK and US no longer need to acquire visas before travelling to the southern African country.
Zambia already has a no-visa policy for most African countries.
The scrapping of visas is meant to attract more visitors to the country in line with the Zambia Tourism Master Plan (2018-2038) that seeks to strengthen the contribution of the tourism sector to the economy.
Tourism currently contributes about US$1.8 billion to the Zambian economy and has great potential to expand into a multi-billion-dollar industry over the coming years.
The sector’s performance was seriously affected by travel restrictions necessitated by the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which resulted in significant job losses.
JN/APA