The Zambian Government has suspended the issuance of all tourist visas until further notice.
This is according to a notice issued by the US Embassy and posted on its website.
Travelers arriving in Zambia without a visitor visa with plans to apply for a visitor visa upon arrival for non-essential purposes will not be permitted entry despite Zambian borders being officially open.
Entrance to Zambia through non-tourist visas or permits is subject to approval from the Ministry of Health following a health screening at the port of entry.
All travelers coming into Zambia will be required to provide a negative COVID-19 PCR test result.
The test should have been conducted within the previous 14 days prior of arrival to Zambia.
The notice says Travelers who do not meet this requirement will not be allowed into Zambia.
The Zambian Government is enforcing a mandatory 14-day quarantine, testing, and regular monitoring at the residence or preferred place of stay for persons entering Zambia.
Persons arriving are no longer required to quarantine at a government-designated facility but must communicate to the Ministry of Health officials where they intend to reside and provide accurate contact information for regular follow-ups.
This includes those entering Zambia at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport (KKIA) as well as land borders.
It said Symptomatic individuals will be tested for COVID-19 at the airport and required to enter isolation protocol at a Zambian government facility.
International commercial flight options currently exist in Zambia with Ethiopian Airlines and U.S. citizens who wish to return to the United States are advised to make commercial arrangements on Ethiopian Airlines as soon as possible.
The U.S. government is not arranging repatriation flights out of Zambia and that routine passport services are currently suspended.
I just wonder if Zambians in diaspora coming in using non Zambian passports count as tourists, because they are not!
Anyway, I am not sure why they are closing doors now when covid-19 is already wide spread in the country.
It might make more sense to stop Zambians leaving the country. They are the ones that think this virus is a hoax.
Too late it should have been done in the early days ….with the kind of numbers we are now recording we might just as well leave it open it won’t make much of a difference if internally there is so much indifference towards the disease in Zambia
Foreign tourists will willingly ban themselves from entry.The Covid risks, the red tape and the headache of entry are enough to deter them.
Covid-19 was important into Zambia.The PF were advised to halt incoming passenger flights and close the borders. As usual they did not listen.
Chitalu Chilufya thought that Temperature screening and hand sanitizing measures at the Airport would stop the virus from entering the country. Sadly covid-19 is largely spread by asymptomatic people.
A few months later Zambia is having infection or positivity rates over 20%.
Poor judgement and leadership.
Life is more important than FOREX. Great decision. Our people come first.
To all diasporans asking whether they can visit. If you do not have a valid zambian passport, which many of you don’t due to losing your zambian citizenship under the old nationality rules, then you are considered a foreign tourist as you are not zambian and cannot even vote in our elections . Very simple. Kz
Life is more important than FOREX. Great decision. Our people come first.
To all diasporans asking whether they can visit. If you do not have a valid zambian passport, which many of you don’t due to losing your zambian citizenship under the old nationality rules, then you are considered a foreign tourist as you are not zambian and cannot even vote in our elections . Very simple. Kaizar
Not good for our already fragile and dead economy…..no need to ban tourists…just keep on falsifying COVID figures….thats enough for tourists to abundon Zambia…and dont they’re coming back anytime soon….it could take years…Chitalu Chilufya is enjoying all the fake COVID related donor funds
I totally agree with all those saying it’s too late for this measure. The virus is being spread among Zambians themselves. The difference will be very little
Not good at all for our tourism and hotel industry. At least European countries that rely on tourism like Spain, Greece and Italy have found a way of letting in tourists again despite the rising cases there. With African countries it’s each man for himself and God for us all. Let’s see how this will end in 2020.. a very bad year for international flights.
Ehe eh, please remind me. Who was swinging at the Victoria Falls just some weeks back and eating nshima with bream ‘opening the Victoria Falls’ to tourists? To be a leader, one must have instinct as well as knowledge. Instinct goes with vision. If you do not have this, you will be chipante pante leader.
On the other hand, just a couple of days ago, they were encouraging Zambians in the diaspora to invest at home. Now what?
Truth be told, you do not need a visa or passport to enter Zambia through North Western, Muchinga, Luapula, Western, Northern and Eastern provinces of Zambia.
Is this similar to the lock down HH was talking about in the early stages of the pandemic? Or has the government just changed it a bit to make it look different?
The government waking up from slumber.
We told these quacks to do this long time and you thought corona is easily defeated by mere politicking.
PF must go!
Hi Honorable Kaizar Zulu, I don’t think you live in Zambia, that Flag automatically shows us that you are in UK. I am a Network Engineer and there is nothing like that, being in Zambia with different flag on your profile. Anyway that is what I think. Please I am not insulting you but that is what I think it is.
Not Zambians bans, that is not English. It should read Zambians ban. In as much as we are appreciate the messages or the News, mulekonka na mafunde iya ulo ulimi when writing.
or better still “Zambia bans.”
Fufuveve! So what where they thinking when they kept the borders open and were opening the Victoria falls and holding mobilization meetings in the name of development projects? The best thing to do now is to stop inter town movements and intensify testing to isolate patients! Most of all stop all terrorist party campaign meetings! And make sure that every one masks up, not in chitenge masks but proper masks or stay home!
Why, is prayer not working in the world’s only Christian nation?
What kind of thinking is this? You open boarders, you open schools, you open your zips and you expect things to normalize.