By Njie Baldeh
As more flights are expected to arrive in the country, TUI last Friday landed at the Banjul International Airport as the maiden flight from Belgium carried 58 passengers.
The aircraft was received on arrival by the Gambia Tourism
Board officials and tour operators.
Abubacarr Camara, the director general, Gambia Tourism
Board, told journalist that this was the maiden flight for TUI from Belgium,
saying it is impressive compared to last year, "because we didn't have TUI
from Belgium, though we had arrivals from Belgium, but they don't come with
chartered flights. This year, we have TUI UK, TUI Holland, and TUI Belgium
which is good news."
"For TUI UK we are expecting four flights a week; TUI
Holland, we are expecting two flights a week, and TUI Belgium we are expecting
two flights a week," he disclosed. He added that Belgium is "one of
our source markets," and this year, "we are expecting 20 charter
flights a week."
On the issue of service delivery, Director Camara said that
all hotel owners were asked to renovate their facilities to standard, and if
you go around the tourism area, you would realise that everybody is trying to
do some maintenance, so that the tourists would come and enjoy their holiday
and go back.
On the cancellation of Gambia Experience flights to The
Gambia, the GTBoard director informed journalists that the issue has been
resolved and now the flight will start coming to the destination.
"I think tourism is the business of every Gambian, and
every Gambian should make sure that we have a good tourists' season,"
Camara added.
Foday Bah, e-marketing and IT manager in-charge of the
Marketing Department at the Gambia Tourism Board, said the cancellation of the
flight will affect the frequency, but the issue has been resolved and the four
flights will start coming.
According to Bah, GTBoard has done efforts in terms of
promoting Gambia in Belgium, and "if you can see right now, we have a PRO
Marketing Firm in Belgium to promote the destination."