The government of The Gambia has appointed the Hamat Bah to the role of minister of tourism, effective immediately.

Tourism is of great importance to the Gambian economy and Bah, who has previously worked in the tourism sector, will look into new ways to develop the industry to increase its contribution to the economy in order to raise the living standards of Gambians.

Following the inauguration of Gambia’s new president in January, the new government has already shown its commitment to the tourism industry and has begun setting out new plans in order to improve the quality of hotel standards and future opportunities from new investment companies.

Bah said of his new appointment: “We anticipate great things ahead. We will fine tune our tourism offerings as well as increase its scope and magnitude by developing summer tourism and business and conference tourism.”

Of the recent political changes Bah added: “The Gambia is now back open for visitors and the ‘smiling coast of Africa’ is a place of peace and stability and we welcome everyone to the destination.”

The UK remains The Gambia’s leading market for tourist arrivals and has been welcoming Brits to its sunny beaches for the past 40 years.