They're shaking hands again in Freetown this Christmas, for the first time in two years. The sociable people of Sierra Leone have had to forgo this universal greeting on account of Ebola, which can be transmitted by skin contact.

We've been hearing of Sierra Leone mainly because of the misfortune of the Scottish nurse, Pauline Cafferkey, who suffered what was effectively a relapse of the disease nine months after she was supposedly clear of Ebola.

But Ms Cafferkey is thankfully fully recovered and so too is Sierra Leone; it was declared officially Ebola-free by the World Health Organisation last month. The army of aid workers who have done such a heroic job defeating the virus are returning home.

But that brings with it another problem: a lot of the money, running into billions of pounds, that has been flying into Sierra Leone during the crisis flies out with them. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are laying off their support staff and drivers. Hotels are emptying. Aid is being cut to pre-crisis levels.

Poverty is a greater killer than any disease in one of the poorest countries on the planet; which is why the government is desperately trying to reconnect to the outside world to attract investors and tourists to replace the cash spent by the NGOs.

At the weekend, I flew into Freetown on the first scheduled flight from the UK since the two year Ebola crisis abated. The transport minister, Leonard Koroma, and what seemed like half the government, piled onto the FlySalone 757 while it was still on the tarmac desperate to claim credit for the good news.

The Sierra Leonians on board, many of whom hadn't seen their families for two years, took it pretty well considering they'd just had a seven-hour flight delayed for 24 hours.

Mr Koroma condemned the UK Government, and British Airways, for cutting air links to the former colonial power. Britain is Sierra Leone's biggest trading partner and there is a million-strong diaspora living mainly in the south of England. Its loss was a huge blow to national pride

The big airlines still shun Sierra Leone, though it has been possible to fly here via Brussels. FlySalone is an entirely new airline created almost single handed by the Scottish aviation expert, Struan Johnston, solely to service this UK route.

This seems strange because many of the aid workers are British, and there is a large British military presence here that dates from the late 1990s when British forces finally ended the brutal civil war by disarming the blood-thirsty Revolutionary Unified Front depicted in the film Blood Diamond.

That war seems a long way away from idyllic Tokeh beach outside Freetown, one of literally hundreds in Sierra Leone, which has a majestic white sand coastline. But the only tourists sipping cold beers under the shade are aid workers, including a couple of Scottish doctors who have been helping out at the Aberdeen Women's Centre in Freetown.

The centre is a philanthropic venture financed by the Scottish businesswoman, Ann Gloag, and specialises in birth complications. Child and parent mortality figures are a massive problem, not least because of the prevalence of female genital mutilation. One child in six fails to reach the age of five.

So, the government wants to turn Sierra Leone into a low-cost Caribbean; a winter-sun destination for Brits who might normally go to Tenerife or Lanzarote. Many take a dim view of tourism as a route to economic development.

We worry that it undermines the indigenous economy and corrupts local culture. It is certainly no substitute for efficient agriculture and productive industry. Then there are the emissions from medium-haul aircraft.

But what else is there? Mining, the other mainstay of the economy, has collapsed because of world market conditions. And at least you can't smuggle beaches as you can the diamonds that fuelled the civil war.

The International Monetary Fund doesn't want to lend to Sierra Leone, so it's on its own. And without the tourist infrastructure there is no way this country can attract foreign investors and hard currency.

Not that Sierra Leone is likely to turn into a mass tourism destination any time soon, with its unmade roads, dodgy toilets and laid-back people. The airport, on the island of Lungi, is a hairy, 25 minute ride by speedboat from the capital, Freetown.

Go on holiday and combat poverty? No it doesn't quite ring true, does it, but who am I to argue? We should all shake hands with Sierra Leone.