A contagious fervor has settled in this tourist destination, located in the southwest of the country, with the inauguration of its international airport.
Special correspondent, Fatoumata Ndiaye Loum
Cap Skirring is notably the home of lush vegetation, fine sand stretching as far as the eye can see, inlets called “bolongs” and hotels and camps combining tradition and modernity; in short, an enchanting setting for tourists in search of distractions.
The international airport of Cap Skirring has been renovated to make the most of these natural advantages.
Its inauguration on Sunday 5, 2021 coincided with the official launch of the new tourist season in Senegal.
In this pearl of the green Casamance, the ingredients seem to be right for the development of local tourism.
In any case, hope for a brighter future is coming back to the actors of the sector after the hard blow from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Anne Cecile Manga, who has been managing a camp in this town in the district of Oussouye since 2007, has seen her clientele drop by 80 percent.
“The travel restrictions resulting from the health crisis have strongly impacted our business. This situation has plunged us into despair,” this manager of Bolongs-Passion said.
The same is true for Club Med. In this famous hotel with a capacity of 204 rooms, the fall in attendance has had severe consequences. Two years ago, the owners simply went bankrupt.
However, the managers of Club Med are dreaming of a new beginning with the reopening of the Cap Skirring airport.
Its renovation is part of a scheme for the rehabilitation of airports in Senegal (PRAS) launched in 2018 by the Senegalese government.
For its commissioning, the national tourism authorities have used the big guns, taking advantage of better communication schemes with the local populations.
At 13 hours, the first long-awaited international flight touched down at the airport under the proud gaze of the delegation of the Blaise Diagne International Airport (AIBD) and the Minister of Tourism and Air Transport, Alioune Sarr.
The latter said that “the government has injected more than CFA 82 billion during the period of resilience to Covid-19 in an effort to support not only the national carrier, but also the agencies responsible for regulating the air transport sector.
In addition, Mr. Sarr said, a funding line of “more than CFA 50 billion” has been set up to meet the “investment and working capital” needs of the hotel sector, which has been hard hit by the pandemic.
By 2035, Senegal aims to become an air and tourism hub.
The renovation works on the Cap Skirring international airport, started in September 2017, costing CFA 1.3 billion.
They were carried out with the assistance of the French company Eiffage and following the merger of the national companies AIBD SA and Aéroports du Senegal (ADS).
The runway has been completely repaired, as well as the horizontal signage, in addition to the realization of a new traffic lane.
FNL/odl/id/fss/as/APA