It was received by officials of the Gambia Tourism Board (GTBoard) and some other relevant stakeholders, along with members of the public and private business communities accompanied by members of travel and tour writers.
The chartered Airbus SE-DMR mark SAS that landed with 157 tourists was a direct flight to the Gambia with one frequency a week. This will offer travelers and other visitors from the Nordic countries access to direct flights to the destination to enjoy their holidays and also experience the natural attractions, Gambian history and culture, gastronomy, local beverages and others.
Interestingly, Apollo, as commenced, will run from 5th November 2024 to 1st April 2025 weekly, a direct flight from Copenhagen, Denmark to Banjul, The Gambia.
Receiving the flight, Haddy Darboe, Senior Officer Activities and Promotions at the Gambia Tourism Board expressed joy, saying that it had been a long journey “but a fruitful one.”
Gambia Tourism Board under the Ministry of Tourism Arts and Culture (MOTAC) and partners, she said have made some efforts to secure a new Tour Operator ‘Apollo’ coming to the country for the first time “after some periods of absence of the Nordic market in the Gambia.”
She said the coming of the Apollo has brought more hope for the tourism season 2024/2025 and “we are hoping for them to increase the numbers of the arrival and frequencies based on our joint marketing collaboration.”
Ma’am Darboe reiterated “We are happy today, as you can see, from the flight attendants to the captain, to the crew, to the people that came in with the flight. They were so excited about coming back to The Gambia. And I understand that from the people that came, we have some repeaters as well. This shows that the Gambia has been in their hearts and minds although they were having difficulties with air access, but now they have it.”
Ma’am Darboe applauded the Ministry of Tourism Arts and Culture, the Gambia government, and the Gambia Tourism Board for this joint marketing effort with Apollo.
In his remark, Malleh Sallah, CEO of Djeliba Leisure Group said the flight from the Nordic market is an indication that “We are now finally starting to recover from the COVID-19 because getting the Scandinavian market back is like the country is going back to its Genesis.”
He explained “The Scandinavian market started our tourism, and they are here back again to take our tourism to the next step,” adding that the Scandinavian market as well helps to increase numbers of arrival to the Smiling Coast to move the sector forward.
CEO Sallah encouraged the partners, stakeholders, and everyone to take care of the season and visitors “so we can move tourism in the country to a greater position. We can have one flight at least from each of the Scandinavian destinations” and that “We cannot rest on our laurels yet until we have achieved this.”
However, he noted that Apollo, of course, saw the opportunity in the Gambia, and decided to take the bold step to charter an aircraft, to come to The Gambia “Chartering an aircraft takes a lot of risk, but they decided to take this risk and come to The Gambia.”
Meanwhile, he applauded the Ministry of Tourism Arts and Culture, GTBoard, GIA, and GCAA among other partners saying this is quite an achievement that the first flight coming from a new destination, Denmark, into the Gambia has 99% occupancy “The load factor shows that the marketing investment that made in this venture is working.”
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