Single tourist visa still pending in Burundi Parliament

Léontine Nzeyimana: “We transmitted numerous bills but MPs have not yet adopted them”

Léontine Nzeyimana, Minister of EAC Affairs says the project of joining other partner states in the use of the single tourist visa is ongoing. “The adoption of the bill to harmonize with other countries is still pending in Burundi Parliament. We transmitted numerous bills but MPs have not yet adopted them”, says the Minister during the presentation of the 2016 achievements.

The Minister says the use of the EAC identity card to allow the free movement of people in the community is also planned. “Burundi plans to issue a reliable biometric ID to avoid forgery”, says Nzeyimana.

The owners of Burundi tourist agencies say it is a great loss for not joining others to use the EAC single tourist visa. “Tourists will only visit Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya by using one single tourist visa instead of spending much money to visit Burundi and Tanzania which haven’t yet joined the three countries”, says a director of one tourist agency operating in the capital Bujumbura.

The East African Community (EAC) has never reached a consensus on the use of a single tourist visa in EAC; the member states are still discussing the issue. Three countries (Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda) have started the use of a single tourist visa since 2014.