The concerted international response to the epidemic, now more than 12 months old, has also reassured potential visitors who once worried that the Ebola fight was being left solely to a handful of NGOs and three deeply impoverished governments.
The United States deployed more than 2,000 marines to Liberia from September to help build treatment units, while Britain sent 800 troops to Sierra Leone, a former colony.
After criticism of its ponderous initial response to the outbreak, the World Health Organization (WHO) also boosted its support of governments and aid agencies, deploying hundreds of officials for 'contact tracing' of possible victims.
"There is comfort in knowing that there are a lot of international hands on the ground and it's not just governments with few resources tackling it themselves," said Dianna Games of the South Africa-Nigeria Chamber of Commerce.
In South Africa, where tourism accounts for nearly 10 percent of GDP, industry officials cited Ebola as one of the reasons for a slightly below-forecast Christmas season but said its potential eradication augured well for 2015.
Elsewhere, hoteliers in remote locations said visitors prepared to deal with discomforts ranging from malaria to political instability were always bound eventually to arrive at a more sober-sided assessment of the risks of Ebola.
"If you look at my bookings diary for November and December, it's just full of crossings out where we've had cancellations," said Aubrey Price, owner of the luxury Ndali Lodge in western Uganda's Ruwenzori Mountains.
"But the cancellations are now drying up and the bookings are coming in so I'm actually pretty optimistic about 2015. It seems people have got used to the threat of Ebola and they just want to come and see gorillas."
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