A group of beach bars and restaurants owners are demanding financial aid from the Barrow administration as they complained that coronavirus has crippled their revenue sources.

The group’s call comes a day after government announced easing coronavirus restrictions which caused hundreds of businesses to close down.

Lamin Kamaso, one of the beach bar owners, said “business is not going on because we depended on tourists that normal buy our drinks and foods.”

He said since the virus hit the country their businesses have experienced huge drop in revenue because people are not visiting their bars and restaurants. 

“This has really affected my living condition. It’s where we feed ourselves and our families,” he said.

Mr Kamaso called on government to give them support “especial the youth of this country in order to minimise criminal activities as they have engage themselves in doing nothing.”

He urged the government to consider them in this time of hardship as “their businesses are badly affected by coronavirus.”

Kaddy Kandeh, bar owner also said “before the start of the pandemic the business was going on fine as many tourists were around but since the pandemic started all the tourists went back home. Our bars are empty.”

She also called on the government to support them as they are finding it “very hard to survive since the start of coronavirus [pandemic].”

Another bar owner, Demba Sonko said: “our earning depends on the tourists coming to the Gambia and now everything is stop due to the global coronavirus pandemic, and now even to sell one bottle of drink is a big problem.”

He also urged the government to support them by saving their businesses.

Reporting by Adama Makasuba