UN Tourism Visa Openness Index: Asia most open world region; check India’s score & other details

Asia, along with the Pacific, has emerged as the most open world region in the UN Tourism Visa Openness Index released on Tuesday, March 12. Prepared by the United Nations’ tourism wing, the index assesses countries and regions based on how open they are in terms of facilitating visas for tourism purposes.

While individual countries have not been chronologically ranked, the continents have been listed as per their score in the report released by the UN body. Asia and the Pacific, with a score of 46, is placed in the first spot, followed by Africa with a score of 44.

The Americas (North America and South America) are placed third with an index score of 41. Europe is in the fourth spot with a score of 32, and the Middle East is fifth with a score of 28.

The index pointed out that emerging economies, with an average score of 43, are more open as compared to advanced economies which have a collective score of 27.

What is India’s score?

India, with a score of 38.14, fares better than neighbouring economic rival China, which has stricter visa curbs. It scores low on the index at 0.64.

As per the report, 24% of visitors to India go through the traditional visa route, whereas 75% of the visitors opted for the electronic visa (e-visa) route, which is considered to be travel-friendly.

Key highlights of Tourism Visa Openness Index

• After the lifting of COVID-19 pandemic-related travel restrictions, the openness of destinations to international travel has “returned to pre-pandemic levels,” UN Tourism stated in the report released along with the index.
• Around 47% of the world's population is subjected to traditional visa requirements, whereas 18% can apply for an e-visa.
• About 14% of the world’s population can obtain a visa on arrival, and 21% can travel for tourism purposes without any kind of visa.
• The trend over time indicates that fewer people worldwide require a traditional visa to travel. While 77% of the world’s population was required to apply for a traditional tourism visa before departure in 2008, this figure fell to 47% in 2023.
• The use of e-visas has increased six-fold from 3% to 18% between 2013 and 2023.
• Destinations have become less reciprocal in their visa policies compared to previous years, demonstrating a growing trend of unilateral action in facilitating travel for international tourism, the report said.
• “Digitalisation in the post-COVID-19 period has increased further, as have specific new visa types, such as digital nomad visas,” it added.