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The Ebola outbreak has decimated the tourism industry to The Gambia, according to a leading specialist operator.
After three years of steady growth in the sector, The Gambia Experience managing director Chris Rowles believes it may not have seen the worst yet.
“We own a hotel in the Gambia and for the last three years it’s been operating at 80-95% occupancy. At the moment it’s 30%,” he told the BBC.
“People are just too scared to go over. I think it will take at least three years for it to recover.”
The virus itself may not have spread to The Gambia, but its impact is being felt as holidaymakers are being put off from visiting.
Nearly 200,000 people choose the west African country as their holiday destination in a normal tourist season.
But tourism has dropped by 60%, which will significantly affect the country’s economy, according to the UN.
Ade Mamonyane Lekoetje, the UN resident co-ordinator, believes at best only 70,000 tourists will visit the country this season, and as a result The Gambia’s target of 7.5% economic growth for the year will be missed.
Tourism accounts for 40% of The Gambia’s annual economic output, with 60% of all tourists coming from the UK.
More than 20,000 people are employed by the sector and rely on the usually busy tourist season from October to late March.
Political instability in the country could also deter visitors.
Two men were charged on Monday with attempting to overthrow president Yahya Jammeh, after Gambian authorities said they had thwarted a coup attempt on December 30.
Jammeh was abroad when gunfire broke out near the presidential palace in the capital, Banjul.
Peter Clarke from Merseyside has been holidaying in The Gambia for several years and so had no problems coming back.
“People are frightened to come here because people hear that Ebola is in West Africa and think it affects all the countries,” he was reported as saying.
“People don’t realise that West Africa is 12 times the size of the UK. Tourism this year is down on what it’s usually like – there were a lot more tourists here in 2013.”