English Football Association boss join campaign to promote Gambia tourism

Visiting chairman of the English Football Association (EFA) joined a campaign organized by Gambia Tourism Board to encourage tourists to choose Gambia as one of their destinations in West Africa, officials told Xinhua on Thursday.

The campaign came amid Ebola outbreak that affects tourism in the region as a whole.

EFA chairman Greg Dyke, who is currently in Gambia, said he will spread to the world the good health status of Gambia as an "Ebola-free country where tourists and other visitors around the world can choose Gambia as their tourist destination since it is Ebola-free."

Gambia and majority of other West African nations have remained unaffected by Ebola, but due to some international media's negative reports, tourism in these Ebola-free countries have been seriously affected, according to tourism officials.

The EFA boss, who is making his first visit to the Gambia, described the nation as a "lovely and beautiful country that every visitor from England will enjoy (especially its) climate and in particular, the friendly and lovely people."

Dyke expressed his satisfaction with the quality of tourism facilities in the Gambia including the accommodation and the services. "We like the country's climate, the people are friendly more than those that we have met in the world and we have become friends of the Gambia," he said elatedly.

"It is a shame that because of Ebola disease virus in some parts of West Africa, such has impacted on Gambia tourism. There is the need to tell the world that the Gambia is fine to go because it is peaceful and an Ebola virus-free country," he said. Endi