First half data of 2017 show that the volume of air passengers who came in through the Lungi International airport dropped by 48 thousand.

In 2016 over the same period, there were 215 thousand (215,355) people who came into the country. With 2017 data revealing a figure of 165 thousand (165,536) this gives us a serious drop of 48,819.

Reasons for this are not immediately clear. However of the 6 categories monitored by the National Tourist Board, the African group shows the biggest drop of 54,593, from 112,651 in 2016 to 58,058 in 2017.
This is followed by the European group, which fell by 50,708 from 84,035 in 2016 to 33,327 in 2017.
On the positive side the Americans inflow increased by 27,223 from 9,058 in 2016 to 36,281 in 2017.
There was also an increase in the number of Asians by 11,235 from 4,235 in 2016 to 15,470 in 2017.
This group was closely followed by the Middle East group, which increased by 10,906 from 1,484 in 2016 to 12,390 in 2017.
Interestingly the Africans came in large numbers in January (11,767) and again in April (11,487) topping all other groups.
The largest amount of inflow of air passengers in the 2017 period is April with 32,935 followed by January 29,050.
It is not clear whether the inflow has any bearing on the voter registration, which took place from 20th March to 30th April.