by Sue Watt (Post Pandemic Travel Feature)

 

I’d planned to write this blog from Botswana, on my first African safari in two years. That might sound a bit ‘privileged,’ but two years is a long absence for me since my work as a specialist writer on African travel and conservation has – in life before Covid – involved frequent travels around the continent. I’ve been craving to get back there: Africa isn’t just my job, it’s my passion.

I’d imagined writing about how it felt to be back, taking a long deep breath when I first landed in the bush and savouring that moment. Hearing the familiar birdsong and cicadas, seeing my first lion maybe prowling for prey or slumbering in the shade, and spotting tiny reed frogs as I drifted along the waterways of the Okavango Delta in a dugout mokoro…

But it wasn’t to be. The night before my partner Will and I were due to fly in November last year, the Omicron variant of Covid-19 reared its ugly head and UK travel to initially six Southern African countries ground

Lions are plentiful in Botswana

Photo credit: Will Whitford Lions are a drawcard for tourists in countries such as Botswana.

to a screeching halt. Again.

Along with South American countries, most of Africa had remained on the UK ‘red list’ of banned destinations until mid-October last year, long after travel had resumed to the rest of the world. To say I was deeply disappointed about this latest ban is an understatement. I understood the reasoning behind it – that Omicron was spreading rapidly and little was known about it at that stage – but still I felt angry and frustrated for all the people who work in and depend on the African travel industry. They had already suffered enough.

Thankfully, the UK government lifted their ban just three weeks later, on December 15th, because Omicron was already spreading widely in the country. The BBC said Health Secretary Sajid Javid confirmed the rules no longer had much purpose. “Now that there is community transmission of Omicron in the UK and Omicron has spread so widely across the world, the travel red list is now less effective in slowing the incursion of Omicron from abroad,” he told Parliament. But the damage had already been done – the ban had instilled a deep lack of confidence in travel to Africa once again, just when the market should have been recovering.

 

Crushed optimism and Omicron

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, Africa’s tourism industry contributed some US$ 169 billion to its GDP in 2019. In 2020, that fell almost 50% to just US$ 86 billon, with a loss of over seven million jobs. The WTTC predicted that employment within the sector would rise by just 1.1% by the end of 2021, with a strong recovery in 2022. Their optimistic prediction was published before this latest ban.

Elephants are in Botswana in huge numbers

Photo credit: Will Whitford Elephants are in Botswana in huge numbers.

Almost overnight, that optimism died.

“Over the last few days, when the UK, swiftly followed by Europe and USA, announced travel bans to Southern Africa, hope turned to despair as a deluge of cancellations flooded right across sub-Saharan Africa,” Nigel Vere Nicoll, President of the African Travel and Tourism Association (ATTA), wrote on 3rd December on the South African website Tourism Update. “One of our members in East Africa, 2 000 miles away from the south, reported over US$150,000 of cancellations in the hours following the announcements.”

So why was the ban implemented and was it really necessary?

The new Omicron variant was identified in Botswana and South Africa, among the world’s best countries for genome sequencing and research of the virus. Omicron is now known to be more transmissible and more resistant to vaccines than the Delta variant, and that the illness it causes is usually less severe in vaccinated people. However, at the time the ban was introduced, none of this was scientifically confirmed. Hence the ban was brought in to buy time to allow scientists to properly understand Omicron’s consequences.

I get this, but still it feels unfair. South Africa and Botswana were being punished rather than praised for sharing their discovery of the new variant to the world. What incentive does this give for the next country that discovers a new variant? And where does it leave travellers when the next variant comes along, as indeed it will: viruses mutate all the time.

 

Do travel bans work?

Zebra in Botswana

Photo credit: Will Whitford Zebra are striking against the landscape in Botswana.

The Covid situation is fast-moving. Omicron has spread rapidly (as, presumably, would other new variants) around the world. So is there any point in having travel bans and what about their impact on the targeted nations?

The World Health Organisation (WHO) commended South Africa and Botswana for “the speed and transparency with which they notified and shared information… on the Omicron variant,” stating that “Blanket bans will not prevent the international spread, and they place a heavy burden on lives and livelihoods.”

Nigel Vere Nicholl in Tourism Update agrees, calling them “knee-jerk restrictions” and “a political placebo” that “have not only financial, but life-threatening implications… Governments worldwide must produce a coherent strategy and look at the bigger long-term picture.”

And Reuters quoted the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as believing bans that isolate any one country or region are “not only deeply unfair and punitive – they are ineffective.” He said we should avoid unacceptable “travel apartheid,” highlighting the need to make more use of repeated testing and other “appropriate and truly effective measures.”

Along with testing, mask-wearing and social distancing, vaccination is a vital measure. Although Omicron appears to be resistant to some vaccines, Al Jazeera reports that “booster doses [of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines] were 90 percent effective at keeping people out of hospital after they had become infected with the Omicron variant.”

 

Vaccine inequity and travel uncertainty

But there is a huge inequality around access to vaccines, with richer nations accused of hoarding them while poorer nations, mostly in the global south, are struggling to vaccinate their people. Although donations have increased, the BBC quotes the Global Vaccine Alliance (Gavi) saying many donations have been “ad hoc, provided with little notice and short shelf lives.” It also highlights issues around hesitancy in some countries to have vaccines, whether through apathy, fear, or fake news.

New Forest in England

Photo credit: Will Whitford Worth a ramble is New Forest in England.

The more people are vaccinated around the world, the less chance the virus has to mutate. The British Medical Journal in a recent article commented: “By now, we all know that no one is safe until everyone is safe… Unequal access to vaccines risks creating a breeding ground for variants.”

This inequity needs to be addressed on a global level and although the need is urgent, it will still take time. Meanwhile, should people even be visiting vulnerable countries? Alan Murphy’s excellent RoundTrip Foundation blog, An Ethical Dilemma – Vaccinated Travellers in Unvaccinated Countries, published before Omicron emerged, addresses many of these important issues.

These bans destroy confidence in travel worldwide. People don’t know whether the rules will change while they’re away, whether they’ll have to make a dash for the airports to get home before they change, whether they’ll have to fork out for changing their flights or spend an extortionate £2,285 per person in a quarantine hotel when they land in the UK. Whatever the reason for travelling, whether to see family, for work or simply for a holiday, that’s a lot of uncertainty.

If you do decide to travel, how should you handle your plans in the face of these current uncertainties? Recent events around the southern African countries show that situations can quickly change – bans can be imposed, yet they can be lifted too. So carry on booking your holidays, but make absolutely sure that you use tour operators, travel companies and insurance providers that offer flexibility and protection against the vagaries of Covid.

And if, like me, you’re suddenly faced with a ban and a change of plan, try to make the most of any unexpected free time you might have. We spent a few days in the New Forest, walking among ancient woodlands just a couple of hours’ drive out of London. We spotted wild ponies and deer rather than lions and elephants and relaxed around fireplaces in country pubs instead of campfires in the bush. It may not have been Botswana, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

Now, finally, we’re busy making plans for Botswana again, and keeping our fingers crossed…

Sunset is a magical time in Botswana

Photo credit: Will Whitford Sunset is a magical time in Botswana, especially in the Okavango Delta, a watery wonderland.

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