Tourists in Gambia are hurriedly being repatriated to their respective countries and tour operators are cancelling flights to the west African nation as regional tensions over President Yahya Jammeh's unwillingness to step down continue to escalate.
Gambia has been in a state of uncertainty following elections last month which saw incumbent Jammeh losing to Adama Barrow. Citing voters' roll irregularities, Jammeh has refused to step down despite diplomatic pressure from neighbouring African states as well as the African Union.
With Barrow's swearing in in-absentia in the Gambian Embassy in Dakar coupled with Senegalese troops having crossed the border on the evening of January 19, airlines and tour operators have been organizing repatriation flights for tourists currently in the country.
According to its website, Thomas Cook Airlines UK has run an additional nine flights from Banjul between January 18 to 20 to bring home 3,500 British holiday makers. It has cancelled all inbound flights until January 20.
TUI fly (Belgium) has put on one additional flight to bring back around 225 Belgian holidaymakers. The Dutch Broadcasting Foundation (NOS) reports that TUI fly (Netherlands) has brought back all but 38 of 815 tourists. The Dutch national emergency fund, Calamiteiten Fonds, predicts it will disburse EUR1 million (USD1.06 million) as a result of the repatriations.
Meanwhile, Spain's Binter Canarias has decided to maintain its schedule from Gran Canaria to Banjul on Saturday as per usual.
