Forty-eight hours more, maybe less, to understand what will be (and if there will be) the changes in the next Decree of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers (DPCM) regarding travel abroad and especially for tourism outside the Schengen area.
According to the rumors leaked out in the last few hours, the Minister of Health Speranza has received requests and pressure from various associations of travel agencies and tour operators, as well as from parliamentarians urged by the many compatriots living abroad who are suffering from the situation of persistent closure of our government to travel for tourism in the countries of Band E.
The president of the Italian Federation of Travel and Tourism Enterprise Associations (FIAVET) Ivana Jelinic has already anticipated some of the issues discussed with Speranza in a meeting last Thursday.
From her statements and those of other participants in the meeting, it transpires that the Government is willing to open other tourist corridors and to soften the rules that impose three buffers, one on departure for the vacation, one before the return and one on arrival in Italy.
However, the part that concerns the thousands of compatriots who are waiting for a reopening to Sub-Saharan African countries, such as Kenya and Tanzania, has yet to be examined and, according to what can be surmised, it is unlikely that these countries will be able to move up a band, going from E where the ban on tourism will remain to D where exceptions can be made.
What one can realistically hope for is that in the face of the buffer on arrival, Green Pass holders will no longer be required to undergo quarantine upon return from certain countries such as Kenya. But clearly, without the possibility for a normal tourist to go there, travel agencies cannot resume selling the destination and the season would be in any case in a minor tone compared to a total reopening that could also reward hotels and safaris.