Join the Royal African Society, APPG Africa and SATSA as we examine the consequences of the UK’s travel restrictions to African countries.

Covid has had a massive impact on Africa, but as much if not more from the economic as from the health consequences. A significant part of that impact has resulted from the closing down of international travel.This event examines the consequences of the UK’s travel restrictions, and particularly the current traffic light system, on African countries and their economies, and asks what can be done about it. The implications of those restrictions are far reaching: not just the reduction in income from visiting tourists, but the consequences for conservation, the impact on communities that depend on this income, the resulting increase in poverty, the impact on African airlines and their supply chains, the reduction in business opportunities and inward investment for Africa, and the obstacles to students, academics, musicians, artists and cultural industries of all kinds.

All these effects need to be considered in addition to the current data and modelling used in making the risk assessment of the pros and cons of re-opening travel to and from the continent. The event will provide the latest information and analysis to enable such a reassessment, and help provide the support to Africa that is pledged in the recent G7 Communique.

Delivered in partnership with SATSA and the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Africa (APPG Africa).

Chair:

– Lord Jonathan Oates, Liberal Democrat – Life peer & Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Energy and Climate Change)

Speakers:

– Colin Bell, Director, Natural Selection Safaris

– Michael Yohannes, Ethiopian Airlines Country Director for the UK and Ireland

– Yavi Madurai, Executive Director, PABWA

– Hon. Najib Balala, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife

If you have missed this event, please follow this link to watch the recording.

Photo credit: Marco Verch, image: Passport with medical face mask and sunglasses on blue background