Tourist are slowly heading back to Sierra Leone, one of the three West African countries that was devastated by an Ebola virus outbreak last year, just as the world Health Organization (WHO) declares the country Ebola-free.

An Ebola outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone killed more than 11,300 people in the region since it was detected in May 2014 and hurt the tourism industry in the whole of Africa.

Over 12,000 people were infected in Sierra Leone, and 4,000 died of the outbreak.

On Saturday, WHO officially declared the country free from the virus after it passed the 42-day market (two incubation period) without any reported case.

The fast growing economy has been hurt by the Ebola outbreak, with sectors like Tourism, cocoa export and mining that were growing at over 15 percent since the end of the 2002 civil war, grinding to a halt.

BBC reported that tourists have started visiting  Sierra Leone, with the first bus of tourists visiting the country’s beach side on Sunday.

“Our numbers are not as good as they have been in the past. But I’m sure the fear of Ebola is still scaring people off. Tourism all over Africa has been affected even in countries mile and mile away from the Ebola Outbreak,” Alatair Goodridge, owner of tour firm Overlanding West Africa that had brought the tourists, told BBC.