The first batch of tourists arrived in The Gambia on Monday and the 141 tourists from Holland on the maiden flight were receive upon arrival at the Banjul International Airport by officials of The Gambia Tourism Board (GTBoard).
Brought in by Correndon Tour Operators, Abdoulie Hydara, director general of Gambia Tourism Board described the arrival tourists into The Gambia as a significant start for the tourists’ season.
He revealed that the country is expecting to receive fifty one (51) flights per week as the 2019/20 tourists’ season progresses.
“I can confirm that Correndon will do four flights per weeks plus other weekly flights by other operators. I can also authoritatively confirm that we at (GTBoard) will be receiving Fifty one (51) flights per week as far the 2019/20 tourists season is concern,” said Hydara.
He disclosed that last year with the involvement of Thomas Cook group the country receives fifty seven (57) weekly flights from Europe and Scandinavia, adding that efforts are on course to speedily fill the gap left by Thomas Cook through the engagement of other tour operators.
“We (GTBoard) are very optimistic at this point in time because we are hopeful we will soon confirm additional three flights that will obviously reduce the gap left by Thomas Cook Group. We are not much concern at the number of tourists’ flights but the frequency of flights landing in the country,” Hydara pointed out.
According to him, it is not only the chartered flights that bring in tourists into the country but equally scheduled flights, adding that with the presence of the SN Brussels, Arik, Royal Air Moroc, and Turkish Airline among others tourism is bound to stay attractive and booming.
Hydara also confirmed that Gambia Experience a leading tour operating company in the country has increased their number of flights to seven weekly flights while SN Brussels also promised to increase their flight numbers to five.
He added that Gambia may not lose as much tourists as anticipated by the populace due largely to these interventions.
Lilian Sallah, director Africa Adventure Tours responsible for Correndon Affairs in The Gambia discloses that Correndon will be bring three flights per week as of this month and by November through end of the season this figures will be increase to four flights per week, adding that Correndon will continue to work with Gambia tourism authorities in a bid to expand its shares of the Gambian market.
Madam sallah noted that Gambia tourism authorities must find the right balance between the Chartered flights and the Scheduled flights in a bid to minimizing future damages, adding that with the right balance even if tour operators failed to bring in the tourists Scheduled flights can still be available at their disposal.
