From East Africa, Carlo Cozzi, director of local travel agency Galago Expeditions, member of the Nomadays collective, shares insights into his professional daily life and the current situation in Tanzania and Kenya during the coronavirus crisis.
"We fell to zero booking requests. Our entire team is confined at home but remains paid at 100% until the end of August"
"It was during an expedition with a group of clients in northern Kenya, and after several days without connection, that I learned the extent of the situation. We had to cut short the trip and return urgently to Nairobi. Thanks to the excellent work of our office in France, the group was able to be evacuated quickly and we caught the last flight from Nairobi departing for France. The airport closed its doors the next day.
In Kenya and Tanzania, we are used to managing crises. There was the collapse of the World Trade Center, the attack on the US embassy in Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam, the attacks in a Mombasa hotel, the Icelandic ash cloud, the massacres of young people at a university in Garissa, ISIS attacks and the rise of radical Islam. All these crises have been overcome and tourism has always moved forward.
But Covid-19 is a different matter. Tourism came to a complete halt. All establishments are closed, as in many other countries. Very quickly, and as soon as the first cases were detected, the Tanzanian and Kenyan governments immediately took drastic measures: immediate quarantine for all arrivals on the territory, roadblocks with temperature checks, hand sanitizer bottles available everywhere, then closure of borders and airports. Finally, total lockdown until further notice.
As for the situation within our agency, we fell to zero booking requests and had to cancel all departures until June. For the rest, we are on standby. Fortunately, our local partners (transporters, hoteliers, etc.) are playing along and postponing bookings without applying any fees. Our entire team is confined at home but remains paid at 100% until the end of August. Our cash flow allows us to keep all staff: no layoff or partial unemployment procedures are being considered at Galago.
This constrained situation allows us to conduct significant training with our teams, to work on new itineraries and refine existing ones. We also remain active on social media, which is currently virtually the only link with the outside world, and continue to maintain contact with our community of travelers."
