Tourism in West Africa gears for an upsurge based on the declaration by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that Liberia is now free of Ebola.
This is supported by other reports of very significant reduction in the cases of the virus infection in Guinea and Sierra Leone.
West African tourism was seriously affected by the outbreak of Ebola in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea last year. It eventually spread to Nigeria but was quickly contained.
Almost all international events scheduled to hold in the region were cancelled for fear of the deadly infection which killed its victims within days. But with the recent announcement by the WHO, hope is rising again in the sector.
Disun Holloway, Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism and Intergovernmental Relations, has expressed delight that tourism could make between 15 per and 20 per cent of Lagos budget.
He lamented that Ebola significantly reduced tourism’s contribution to the state’s purse.
According to him, tourism contributed less than one per cent to the state’s treasury, but it reflected on the cost of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) as it slashed hotel patronage by 75 per cent apart from the deaths recorded.
Holloway disclosed that big hotels in Lagos lost N8 billion in the four months of Ebola rampage, an average N2 billion loss per month.
Liberia was hit hardest, with more than 4,700 of its citizens dead. Up to 389 deaths were recorded in one week in October 2014 alone. But the fatality counts dropped below 100 within weeks, and to single digits by the start of 2015.
At the peak of the epidemic, flights were cancelled into the country, fuel and food supplies ran low, and schools, businesses and borders closed.
But by last week, it had been 42 days since a case of Ebola was confirmed in Liberia. That is twice the normal incubation period for the disease.
West Africa is not out of the woods yet, however. Guinea and Sierra Leone reported nine cases of Ebola in the first week in May.
That is a far cry from the 300 to 400 fresh cases Liberia reported weekly in August and September 2014 at the peak of the outbreak.
West Africa’s economy took a big blow during the epidemic with many foreign companies pulling out of the region.
Now that the worst seems to be over, the countries can build their economies back up.
