Italy is among the favorite destinations for Kenyans, and this is certainly not immigration data, since, except for a few illegal immigrants with dual citizenship (Somalis and South Sudanese), the people of Kenya are not among those who have been continually risking their lives for years, first by crossing the desert and then by boarding sea barges.
The new report by VFS Global, one of the most reliable statistical tools adopted by governments and diplomatic missions, about Kenya reports that it has seen an increase of about 80 percent in foreign travel by its citizens, compared to 2022, which had already seen a slight increase over the previous year.

Suffice it to say that applications for tourist visas have tripled since 2021.
It is a clear sign that Kenya is growing, according to the world financial parameters for which so much wealth is matched by a record public debt and those that see the widening of the range between (too much) wealth and (deep) misery as the price to pay for development, but also that of a global, international vision of its inhabitants.

Beyond geopolitical analyses, the fact that jumps out at us is that Italy is in the top positions, among the nations chosen as a tourist destination, but also as a business destination. On the podium are China, Australia and Canada, given the difficulty for many Kenyans in obtaining visas to travel to the United States. But soon after, come Britain, Italy and the Netherlands.
Reasons for travel include not only tourism, stays for study purposes and those to attend cultural events and conferences are also on the rise. Artists, politicians, sportsmen or businessmen often on a "mission" on their own rather than the country they represent.
According to VFS having increased the number of affluent families in Kenya, those who used to move alone now do so bringing partners, children and relatives on vacation or in tow if he is busy for work.

Shopping in Italy, on the other hand, is seen as a big draw for Nairobans, for fashion, food and wine, and handicrafts. Wealthy Kenyans in this respect are a bit like the Americans of Africa. Another reason for the temporary "escapes" abroad of Kenyans who can afford it is the difficult times in the local economy. There are those who have invested in foreign currency that has become much stronger in the meantime and feel it is time to spend that money or even place it somewhere in Europe or elsewhere. Just as we Italians did for so many years with Kenya and other countries that at the time, compared to ours, we thought were attractive.

Sic transit gloria mundi, the Latins used to say. Italians today have it so bad that they often stop at airplane prices and can no longer even afford the beauties of their own nation, favored by affluent foreigners, and migrate to Albania and Montenegro for summer vacations because even Greece, which we once looked at as the Eden of value for money sun and sea, has become too expensive. And our rich, who are still there, if they come to Kenya they do it for the megasafari, but they are fewer and fewer. Suffice it to say that in the 1990s Italy was the third largest country for entries to Kenya, after the U.S. and Britain, and was close to a hundred thousand tourist presences a year; today it is desolately in fourteenth place with ten thousand.