BY PHUMELELE MKHONTA
MBABANE – The Kingdom of Eswatini has made it in another listing!
Barely a week after being listed as the fifth most developing African economy, the country has been listed in the updated version of ‘Countries with no travel restrictions’ list.
The new list was updated on November 22, 2022 and it constitutes of 146 countries, including Eswatini. The list is published by Travel To Path website, which looks into the interests of travellers all over the world.
The criterion used to compile the list of countries with no travel restrictions has five components. The components include no tests before arrival, no tests upon arrival, no countries banned due to COVID-19, no quarantine required and no vaccines required.
Other countries that made the list include Ethiopia, Bermuda, Peru, United Arab Emirates, Samoa, India and others.
About a month ago, Deputy Prime Minister Themba Masuku announced that the country would no longer require COVID-19 vaccination certificates or negative COVID-19 PCR tests when leaving the country.
This was warmly welcomed by the members of the public, who said the economy and their businesses would be boosted by the move.
Worth noting is that there are 195 countries in the world today- meaning 49 countries still have travelling restrictions.
When sought for comment on the effects on loosening travelling regulations, Ministry of Home Affairs Communications Officer Mlandvo Dlamini said they had noticed an increased in traffic at the country’s entry ports. “The numbers of people leaving and coming into the country has increased significantly. We are still gathering statistics on the numbers that were entering the country this time last year and now,” said Dlamini.
