SADC UniVisa moves closer to implementation as Southern Africa pushes for regional connectivity
The SADC UniVisa is progressing through inter-ministerial processes ahead of the Heads of State Summit in August 2026, with ICT systems, legal frameworks and revenue-sharing models already in place, benchmarked against the KAZA UniVisa and the East African Tourism Visa. The update came at a side event co-convened by the SADC Secretariat and the Southern Africa Tourism Alliance (SATA) at Africa's Travel Indaba 2026 in Durban, where visas, border efficiency and air access were discussed as interconnected priorities. A founding pilot group of Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe has been identified, while a border post audit is set to begin in July and an air access study is complete and under review. The urgency of the reforms was underlined by Airlines Association of Southern Africa CEO Aaron Munetsi, who noted that taxes, fees and charges on intra-regional flights run 49% above the global benchmark.
Industry representatives used the session to table concrete proposals, including region-wide aviation policy and pilot licensing alignment, a SADC-wide border training programme with dedicated tourist channels, and a supply development pilot to bring women-led businesses into the tourism value chain across three to five member states. SATA Chair and TBCSA CEO Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa stressed that coordinated action between government and the private sector is essential, noting that "governments cannot respond to fragmented briefs." SATA Project Lead Natalia Rosa framed regional connectivity as the sector's most critical strategic priority, arguing that brand positioning and visitor economy growth are all contingent on resolving air access, visa and border efficiency together.
Source: South African Tourism Aliance