A Titan Airways flight from London Gatwick landed at the Banjul International Airport two hours ago – bringing in the first holidaymakers to the West African nation.
Authorities began plans to reopen the industry in October hoping tourists would come as the coronavirus pandemic slowed down. But a rise in new infections in Europe is weighing down such hopes.
The Ministry of Tourism has set Covid-19 rules that all visitors must present negative covid tests taken 72 hours before arrival or be quarantined and tested for the virus upon arrival.
The hospitality industry in the smallest country on mainland Africa is projected to lose an estimated $292 million due to the pandemic – having shut down for eight months from March this year.
On Wednesday, one hundred and forty-seven holidaymakers from the United Kingdom landed at the Banjul International Airport at 3pm.
The Gambia Tourism Board (GTBoard), which is responsible for marketing destination Gambia, live-streamed the flight’s arrival saying “it’s a bit later than usual but here comes the first flight of the 2020/21 tourist season.”
The tourism season in The Gambia officially opens on October 15.
Due to the pandemic, the country’s tourism authorities are mainly focused on online marketing, according to Foday Bah, E-Marketing IT Manager at GT Board.
Bah told journalists at the airport that GTBoard is also diversifying source markets by trying to attract more visitors from the West Africa sub-region.
The Gambia had hoped to increase air arrivals in 2020 by 22 percent to 289, 000, according to a UN development programme brief published in April.
But a global outbreak of coronavirus severely affected the projected growth of the industry after an automatic shutdown in March.
As a result, Bah said not much is expected from the 2020/21 season but “there is a little bit hope” as the first flight of holidaymakers arrives. Two more flights are expected next month.
Meanwhile, Adama Sanneh, a Gambian based in the UK, said he is excited to visit his home country after a long wait due to the pandemic and the travel restrictions that came with it.
”It is really exciting. It is really good. I am so glad to be here to get some sun because England is very cold,” he said.
Tourism is a major foreign exchange earner for The Gambia, a one billion dollar economy.
- FEATURED IMAGE: A Titan Airways Airbus A320 by Ennio Varani – Photo taken from African Aerospace
