Tourism players urge review of Ghana's $260 e-visa fee, fearing it deters visitors

Pinned summary · as of 05:21

Voices from Ghana's tourism industry are asking the government to reconsider the $260 e-visa fee, arguing that the price could push international travellers towards other destinations. They raised the matter during this year's World Tourism Day activities in the Eastern Region, which ran alongside the Eastern Expo.

What we know

• Representatives of the tourism industry, among them the Ghana Tourism Federation (GHATOF), want the government to revisit the $260 e-visa price, warning that it may deter foreign visitors and undercut efforts to grow the sector.
• This year's World Tourism Day was marked in the Eastern Region beside the Eastern Expo, under a theme that centres on digital tools and artificial intelligence in tourism.

What's disputed / unconfirmed

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  GHATOF president Seth Ocran called the e-visa a welcome reform, but said its price and single-entry limit leave Ghana at a disadvantage against neighbours. He added that a family of four would pay over $1,000 in visa fees alone, and put visa charges at several competing sub-regional destinations at between $50 and $60. These figures come from him alone.
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  Mr Ocran argued that a lower fee and easier multiple-entry visas could lift annual arrivals from roughly 1.2 or 1.3 million towards 2 million. That is his projection and nobody else has backed it. On cost he said: "However, we think the cost is too high."
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  Fuseini Nawaru, founder and chief executive of Hausa Tours, said Ghana's visa costs far more than entry fees in several African and Caribbean destinations. He cited about $30 in Kenya and Zimbabwe, $50 in Tanzania, Rwanda and Benin, $73 in Côte d'Ivoire, and $50 to $100 in Nigeria depending on category. Only Kumasi Mail carries these numbers.
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  Mr Nawaru also said Ghana could lose travellers to Caribbean countries with visa-free entry, and that a more competitive visa regime could bring more arrivals, revenue and jobs. This is his opinion and has not been echoed by other reports.
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  Tourism Minister Abla Dzifa Gomashie, according to Kumasi Mail, said the digital tourism economy must create practical opportunities for young people and local businesses, called for more skills training in customer service and digital marketing, and urged responsible use of AI with safeguards for personal data. Eastern Regional Minister Rita Akosua Adjei Awatey was quoted as saying the Ghana Tourism Authority rolled out a new information system in May 2026 to speed up digital change in the sector. Neither account has been repeated elsewhere.
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  Mr Ocran also urged Ghana to adopt digitalisation and AI to widen its reach, proposed virtual tourism experiences aimed partly at the African diaspora, and said the industry supports a very large number of direct and indirect jobs. Citi Newsroom is the only publication to report this.

Why it matters for Ghana

Visa cost is one of the first expenses a foreign visitor weighs, so the fee affects hotels, tour operators, guides and traders who depend on arrivals in Accra, the Eastern Region and beyond. Families from the diaspora who plan group trips would feel the charge most directly, since it is paid per traveller. The government has not been quoted in these reports as responding to the request, so the fee stands for now.