For the United States, Kenya is once again one of the safest countries in the world to spend their vacations. Since the end of 2021, due to the risk of terrorist attacks in the capital and problems linked to Covid-19 and particularly the low number of vaccinated people, the USA had put Kenya on the list of countries at risk, making it fluctuate between level 4, which means total discouragement of tourism, and level 3, which calls for attention, in March 2022 the destination returned to being part of level one, with a jump of two places, which is quite significant.
Now Americans, who are the fundamental tourist resource for the African country, not only for the quantity of travelers who choose it but for the quality (very expensive safaris and high-ranking clientele), can return to book especially the savannah and the Maasai Mara in view of the great migration that will begin in June. In the midst of the pandemic, however, the Americans were the first country for foreign visitors, with 137 thousand presences. To say, the Italians stopped below 10 thousand, also because of the total bans on tourism by our government, which as many of you know were lifted last March 1st.
Great news for the tourism sector.
In addition to an easing of the alarms related to national security, the warning issued by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was fundamental, which reported the very low current impact of the coronavirus, linked to the growth in the number of vaccinated and the entry restrictions chosen by Kenya, which accepts the fully vaccinated and at the same time puts serious stakes on the entry of the unvaccinated, while not prohibiting their entry.
Even the national economy, struggling with high inflation for a year and a half now, should be positively affected by this cancellation of restrictions by the U.S., which fatally will follow a similar choice by many nations that usually await the U.S. moves. The hope of the Kenyan government, in view of the national elections, is to take in fresh currency from abroad in order to restore strength to the local currency, the shilling, and present itself in the best possible way to the new political challenges in order to regain credibility on international markets.