Kenya is preparing to re-embrace its tourists (equipped with vaccination certificate) from January 2022.
At least these are the intentions of the Italian government, as outlined by Tourism Minister Massimo Garavaglia, on the sidelines of a meeting for the restart of the cruise industry.
"We will be back to normal, in the travel and vacation sector, at the end of the year or at the latest at the beginning of next year," said Garavaglia, who also announced for the coming weeks the unblocking of new tourist corridors.
"A constant process of opening new tourism corridors is underway," added the Italian minister, "and in the coming weeks more will be opened.
It is unlikely that long-haul destinations in Africa, particularly Kenya, Zanzibar and Madagascar, will be able to jump on the bandwagon of beneficiaries, even though talks and pressure are underway at various levels by various players linked to tourism, with the help of institutional representatives who are particularly sensitive to the situation of Italian business in Kenya and the benefits it can generate for its supply chain. On the other hand it has been ascertained, from the mode of decisions taken previously, that it is not only the vaccine situation to have been fundamental for certain reopenings, but the willingness of governments to restore fast lanes with Rome and push for such solutions.
In recent days, as the first destinations that could reopen, even before next December 15, the day of expiry of the current decree signed by the Minister of Health Hope, were cited Thailand, Cape Verde (African archipelago, like Seychelles and Mauritius already unlocked) and Oman. The attempt of some hotel groups (such as PlanHotel for example) and tour-operators such as Alpitour is to restart Zanzibar and Malindi/Watamu in pairs before Christmas or to have certainty for the unblocking after December 15 so as to be able to sell (with all the restrictions, rules and obligations of the case) the vacations and flights of the charter company NEOS, given that the other company, Blu Panorama, is in bad waters and has recently suspended flight activities.
The date that NEOS had already planned for the restart to East Africa was December 21.
Therefore, Garavaglia is expected to make an effort to create a path of certainty and certain dates, so that those who dream of traveling to Africa can plan their trip with sufficient time.
In the meantime, Kenya, thanks to the awareness of Italian institutions and individuals and the media campaigns implemented by our portal, is beginning to move to let Italy know its positions, transmit credible numbers and true projections (this seems to be the insurmountable obstacle for now by Speranza, who does not believe the data transmitted to the WHO by many countries on the African continent with respect to cases and vaccines) and collaborate on bilateral agreements that also reward vaccinated Kenyans who want to travel to Italy.
The heads of the most important trade associations are ready to do their part and our Ambassador in Nairobi, whose work in the background is continuous and important, has long hoped for a concrete action of Kenyans to be able to report and raise in Rome.
Who writes you, not later than last Friday, has raised during an interview on TV channel KTN, the need for Kenya to be clear on the operations of vaccination and willingness to bilateral agreements with Italy.