East Africa Single Visa Possibly Implemented By June
^{posted in Tanzania Safaris on Thursday, March 4, 2010}

The introduction of a single tourist visa for five countries in East Africa could be implemented by as soon as June. The East African Community visa will allow tourists to travel freely through the following countries: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. This should dramatically reduce the cost of Visa's for visitors entering more than one of these countries on their holiday.

The group is also setting a common code of conduct for tour operators, establishing professional standards for travel agents, creating standardized hotel classifications and adopting common policies on wildlife management.

At a meeting of the East African Community (EAC) ministerial council on Tourism and Wildlife Management the ministers directed the secretariat to expedite the process for the implementation of this Visa to June this year.

A work plan for the study and piloting of single tourist visa from February to September 2010 has been developed and test runs are expected to involve nationals from South Africa, the UK, USA, Germany, France, Canada, Australia, Japan, Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium and the Scandinavian countries.