Ethiopian Airlines will set up a visa hub next month to allow Chinese travellers to apply for visas to 35 African countries.

This is according to the airline’s CEO, Tewolde Gebremariam, who spoke to Chinese news agency, Xinhua. "The plan is to have a visa hub in Addis Ababa, where Chinese visitors can directly travel from our five Chinese destinations [Guangzhou, Beijing, Chengdu, Hong Kong and Shanghai] to Addis Ababa and be able to apply for visas to 35 African countries through their embassies in Ethiopia."

According to Gebremariam, the 35 African governments have reached an agreement with the Ethiopian government on the visa scheme.

Ethiopian Airlines currently has daily flights from Addis Ababa to Guangzhou and Beijing, thrice-weekly flights to Chengdu, and daily flights to Hong Kong and Shanghai.

The carrier has, in recent months, expanded its route footprint with flights between Addis Ababa and Moscow; daily flights to Seychelles; and the signing of an agreement that would effectively see the revival of Zambia Airways.

As a country, Ethiopia has overtaken Dubai as the leading gateway to the region; with Addis Ababa International Airport nearing the end of a multi-phase upgrade, which should be fully operational from 2019 – the timing of which is in line with the activation of the visa hub.

To further tap into the growing number of inbound Chinese travellers, Ethiopian Airlines began accepting payments through its mobile app via the Alibaba-owned payment platform, Alipay.

The visa hub is an indication of the increased interest of Chinese visitors not only on a trade platform, but in Africa’s cultural and historic sites.