The Gambian tourism industry, which is the country’s second largest economic sector, is in trouble following the cancellation of Thomas Cook flights to the West African country.
Thomas Cook, a UK travel company that recently went bankrupt, flew in 45% of holidaymakers in the country between November and March.
“Central Europe and the UK is off,” Gambia Tours managing director Charbel Hobeika was quoted as saying by African Business.
“Of course the UK was a very big market for The Gambia. But we’re talking to another UK tour operator to see if they can start in December, and that will help close the gap we lost with Thomas Cook.”
Over 209,000 people visited Gambia last year.
Although the tourists mainly came from the UK, there had been growing numbers from the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany and Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the Gambian government is said to have established a strategic response unit with local stakeholders, and teams from the World Bank, IMF and the European Union to plug in the gap left by Thomas Cook.
Already Portugal’s TAP Air now has three flights per-week to Gambia and is negotiating with potential new charter airlines to replace Thomas Cook.
Officials also traveled to the US last October to attract new business.
Tourism rakes in $1.6 billion per annum or accounts for more than 20% of Gambia’s GDP.
Blogs
