Is there life outside Italy after Omicron? This is what thousands of Italians are asking themselves, who with the new year hope to be able to return to travel without risks, subterfuges or organizational difficulties, insurance and so on.
In particular, those who every winter were accustomed to attend exotic destinations such as Kenya and avoid the months with the coldest temperatures of the year, save on heating and experience the summer and the nature of the equator, feel like a Tsavo lion in a cage.
This year to tell the truth, compared to last Christmas vacations, more compatriots were seen admitting to missing Kenya for two years, that is, since the beginning of the restrictions or the first repatriation flights in the spring of 2020.
There are those who have returned to avoid the after-effects of withdrawal, those who have a house or property to check out, those who have decided to reopen their business, but there are also many ordinary tourists who are obviously fed up with having to wait for the official reopening of tourism for the countries in Band E of which the most popular African destinations are part.
Our appeals, those of Italian operators and entrepreneurs in the tourism sector in Kenya and Italy and the underhand work of our Ambassador in Nairobi have been to no avail.
For now, nothing will be released, at least until January 31.
But after that? Is there an inkling of what might happen?
Certainly February 1st is the last useful date for organized tourism, charters and resorts, because it would give the possibility to work and breathe economically for at least two months, until the end of March (in Zanzibar, sometimes the tourist season reaches the end of April). It must be kept in mind that almost all activities in Kenya have reopened their doors in December to accommodate mainly local customers from Nairobi, and some Eastern Europeans or countries where there is no absolute ban on travel, but only the advice.
Assuming that African destinations are reopened on February 1, the same tourist facilities could think about extending the opening times, avoiding a new blackout that would presumably last until next July, with all the consequent problems, especially related to employee salaries and maintenance.
In short, this uncertainty can not last long, it is urgent to set certain dates and take responsibility for choices that once and for all favor the desire to return to normal, especially with regard to citizens who, willingly or unwillingly, have followed all the dictates of the Government up to here, even reaching the third dose of the vaccine. After having deserved the virtual ones of limitations, pain, endurance and patience, it would be more than fair that they receive the real "prize" of the possibility to return to travel freely (respecting restrictions and obligations of host countries, clearly) for the world that in 2022 is still precluded to them.