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By Tesfa-Alem Tekle
November 2, 2019
(ADDIS ABABA) – The Ethiopian Airlines Group this week disclosed that the introduction of electronic visa (e-visa) service has enabled hundreds of thousands of international visitors to easily enter the country.
The horn of Africa’s nation initially launched the e-visa initiative in June 2017, which was then only available to a limited number of countries.
However later in June, 2018, the Ethiopian immigration authorities in partnership with the Ethiopian Airlines made the online visa application service available for all international visitors.
In a latest statement it issued, the flag carrier said some 200,000 visitors from 217 countries have taken over the country since the country introduced the e-visa service.
The e-visa procedure allows passengers from countries all over the world to receive an online service in less than 6 hours and that they can be treated safely.
“This is good news for all of us in the tourism and travel industry,” said Tewolde Gebremariam, CEO of the airline.
He added, Ethiopia has benefited greatly from the fact that it has made significant progress over the years by making travel easier and easier.
Seen as Africa’s diplomatic capital, Addis Ababa is the third largest home of diplomatic community in the world, after New York and Geneva.
The city is home to headquarters of different regional, continental and international organizations such as the African Union (AU) and the UN Economic Commission for Africa, among others and it hosts various international meetings and conferences of all types on a daily basis.
According to the Ethiopian airlines, the e-visa service has so far benefited a large number of countries, as well as foreign governmental and non-governmental organizations which are dispatching delegations and participants to Ethiopia for conference.
Ethiopia’s e-visa service, as a national initiative was launched with the intention to mainly boost the country’s tourism sector as well as in a bid to potentially make the nation a conference hub by making travel procedures easy and convenient.
In addition to the electronic Visa service, it is said that the availability of airline services has accelerated the growth of travelers using mobile applications.
(borkena)
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