UN Tourism: 2023 Tourism Visa Opening Report

The report shows that the proportion of the global population that needs to apply for a traditional visa to travel has dropped to 47% in 2023, compared with 77% in 2008 and 59% in 2018. Among them, the proportion of the population that needs a traditional visa to travel to the Middle East has decreased from 71% in 2015 to 57% in 2023.

Asia-Pacific region ranks first in openness

Among all regions in the world, Asia-Pacific is the most open to international tourism; and from a sub-regional perspective, Southeast Asia, East Africa and the Caribbean are the most open.

The tourism organization also pointed out that South Asia and West Africa have shown the greatest improvement in openness since the last report in 2018. However, the regions with the greatest restrictions on international travel so far remain Central and North Africa, North America, and Northern and Western Europe.

The global population without a visa accounts for 21%

The report highlights that 21% of the world’s population now does not need any form of visa to travel, up from 17% in 2008 and 20% in 2018. Currently, this visa-free policy is particularly popular among destinations in the Caribbean and Central America.

At the same time, 14% of the world's population can apply for a visa on arrival, a proportion that was only 6% in 2008, but rose to 15% in 2018. The report said that visa on arrival policies are more common in destinations in East Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia and West Africa.

In addition, the proportion of the global population that can apply for an electronic visa has increased to 18%, a significant increase from 3% in 2013 and 7% in 2018. Currently, destinations with more popular electronic visa policies are mainly concentrated in West Africa, East Africa and South Asia.