Zanzibar is facing an economic crisis following the collapse of both its tourist trade and its clove export industry.

Britain, Australia and the US have all warned their citizens against visiting the islands because of terrorism fears.

The result, according to Zanzibar President Amani Karume, is a 30% slide in tourism revenue - which normally brings in about $90m a year - which has led to up to 1,000 job losses in hotels and related businesses.

The group of islands form an autonomous part of Tanzania just off the African coast in the Indian Ocean.

Export crash

The tourism slump comes just as the market on the mainland for cloves, the islands' premier export industry, has hit rock bottom.

Indonesia, which buys the bulk of the stock for its aromatic cigarettes, is now buying from its home market instead.

Income from clove exports, already damaged by a decade of falling commodity prices, is down 60% on last year's performance, Mr Karume told a May Day rally.

Zanzibar authorities have accused Kenya of smuggling cloves from the islands, further eating into income from the trade.

Warning

The terrorism alerts issued by Western countries are not solely to do with Zanzibar.

The US has warned travellers to stay away from east Africa in general, saying that terrorist networks connected to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda are active in the region.

The US has particular reason to be nervous, following the bombing of embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's commercial centre, and the Kenyan capital Nairobi on 7 August 1998.

But the island has its own problems which in the past have triggered inter-communal violence as its rulers, who have a measure of independence from the rest of Tanzania, have sought to hold onto power despite election setbacks.