There will be fears of a new lockdown in Italy and other European countries from where soon it will no longer be possible to travel to Africa, it will be the arrival of the inclement winter and the stress of this prolonged situation, but since last weekend the planes arriving, even indirectly, from our country are beginning to fill up with compatriots.
Most of them are residents who have not yet returned to Kenya, where they have activities or live with regular residence permits, or employees, but also those who have a regularly registered home or have an existing rental contract, conditions reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as exceptions to the ban on travel for tourism beyond the Schengen area.
But that's not all. As reported since last August, when Kenya reopened to international travelers but in Italy there was the same ban that is in place today, there are also many Italians who embark with final destination Kenya, although they do not have the necessary requirements to do so.
How can this happen?
Quite simply, in our country's "ports of exit" most of the time there are no controls by the authorities in charge. Especially at airports, at the last customs check-in, the validity of the passport is checked as it has always been, and not the "status" of foreign resident as it should be required. And if the traveller does not have this requirement, one should ask for documents proving the urgency or plausible reasons for a trip.
We have never spoken about the goodness and relevance of the decree and the fact that Kenya is one of the countries where Italians cannot go on holiday, but surely the consistency would be to have a decree decided by the Government applied to the letter, otherwise what has been done?
On the other hand, in most cases, the decision whether or not a tourist should leave Italy is delegated to airline employees who check in for the first time, have their luggage checked in and issue the ticket.
Companies that have every interest in letting their customers travel, also because they would not be advertising themselves as "spying".
Result: the word has spread, especially with some airlines you can leave without the necessary documents or with fake papers (which are often not even taken into consideration) or by showing at check-in the many stamps of the past that attest to a regular presence in Kenya.
Most tourists, once passed the first "step", will also be able to pass through airport customs and be ready for boarding.
If anything, problems may arise for them in Kenya, but not because of the Government of the African country, but as Italian citizens if something happens to them for which they will have to justify their presence abroad. In that case they will not be able to appeal to the fact that they have not been checked, because they should not have been present at the airport in the first place.
In any case, the "do-it-yourself" tourists are coming.
Just as the first attempts at fraud have been reported: someone from Kenya, knowing that in the end the Italian tourists will still be able to leave, promises irreproachable documents (fake hiring, fake reunions, etc. ...) making them pay.
In short, if you have to and want to take a risk, do it yourself and for free, what a shame that you'll miss just the plane ticket. But our advice, and to our disadvantage and to the detriment of our supporters, is: as often happens in Italy, although laws are made and then those who enforce them are missing, wait for the official reopening. Being an Italian citizen abroad where you couldn't and don't have full protection, especially health care at the moment, is not a good thing.
Otherwise, I recommend you to know that it is an adventure and that shouting at your rights as a citizen after being the first to fail to respect your duties, as well as ridiculous, will probably not be productive.