Why the African Travel Ban Is Misguided
Photo Credit: Tourism in places like Cape Town (pictured) will take a big hit from new Omicron travel bans. Flickr / tsn92
Skift Take
The African travel ban is rooted in media alarmism and politics, not science. And it will have disastrous consequences for a continent that has already been beaten down by Covid. Here's why it is just plain wrong.
On Experience
Colin Nagy is a marketing strategist and writes on customer-centric experiences and innovation across the luxury sector, hotels, aviation, and beyond. You can read all of his writing here.Following detection of the latest variant, Omicron, in Botswana and South Africa last week, the EU, U.S., and UK quickly issued travel bans on African nations. Citizens from these nations traveling abroad were briskly walked to repatriation flights home, and hopes for travel and tourism surrounding the holiday season were promptly dashed. All while places like the UK, which has surging Covid cases per day, were free to travel to places like the U.S. and Dubai for the holiday season unrestricted.
Something isn’t adding up: it’s more politics than science, with disastrous consequences for Africa.
The knee-jerk policy is hugely misguided and hints at our worst, fearful instincts when it comes to dealing with Coronavirus. We know that the virus isn’t going away and we are going to have to learn to
