More than a road trip, the expedition is a roadmap for advocacy. In each capital, the group delivers formal letters, holds press conferences, and presents economic and social arguments for eliminating visas among African nationals. Mubarak has explained that the aim is to make free movement a widespread reality within the next few years, with intermediate milestones to review progress country by country. Political momentum already exists: Ghana announced in 2024 its intention to abolish visas for African citizens, and the campaign expects its full implementation soon.
The timing is strategic. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) seeks to integrate 1.4 billion people into a single market; however, current visa requirements and bureaucratic hurdles make travel expensive, hinder intra-African tourism, and weaken regional value chains. Removing these barriers would not only lower travel costs and expand connectivity by air and land but also encourage investment, cultural exchange, academic collaboration, and the mobility of young talent that currently faces obstacles within its own continent.
There are precedents that prove the goal is achievable. Kenya has eliminated visas for all Africans, and Rwanda has pledged to open its borders to the continent, joining early adopters such as Gambia, Benin, and Seychelles. These moves are far from symbolic; they send a clear message that integration cannot wait and that the benefits far outweigh the transitional costs.
Employment creation is at the heart of the campaign’s message. A continent with such diverse destinations—from the Sahel to the Indian Ocean islands—could transform intra-African tourism into a sustainable growth engine if unnecessary frictions are removed. Free mobility would reduce costs for operators, stimulate new routes and multi-destination packages, and encourage African travelers to explore their own continent before looking abroad. According to Mubarak, freeing access to the continental market opens the door to sustained growth in tourism and associated industries such as gastronomy, arts, sports, and events, with multiplier effects in tax revenues and business formalization.
The call to action is clear. To governments: harmonize migration policies, digitalize processes, expand bilateral and regional agreements, and scale up facilitation measures such as exemptions, visas on arrival, or electronic systems while moving toward full visa abolition. To the private sector: coordinate to design competitive products, invest in connectivity and sustainability, and promote a new narrative of Africa as open, safe, and welcoming. To regional organizations: provide common standards, reliable data, and monitoring mechanisms that ensure security, data protection, and travelers’ rights. The campaign—which has already made stops in several capitals for meetings with authorities and press events—emphasizes that “this is long overdue” and that history will remember the leaders who act with vision.
With the steering wheel as a symbol and collaboration as a method, the Trans African Tourism & Unity Campaign calls on stakeholders to make 2025–2030 the quinquennium of African mobility. This is not a rhetorical demand but a concrete agenda, backed by actions, that links citizens’ aspirations with economic integration goals. A visa-free Africa is not a distant dream; it is the fast lane to unlock growth, employment, and continental pride today.
