As part of promoting the tourism industry in the country, 40 members of the bird watchers association recently completed a day’s training session to improve their skills in bird-watching.
The training course was held at the Tanji Eco Lodge in Brufut, and was organised by the Gambia Tourism Board.
This happened aginst the background that more tourists are now coming to The Gambia to watch the over 500 species of birds available in the natural habitat of The Gambia.
Guilaume Van Grinsven, a senior trainer of PUM Netherland, said different topics, such as marketing brand, service excellence, excellence management, basic personal needs of the customers, among other things were discussed during the training course.
He said bird watchers have a big role to play, as well as to contribute to the development of tourism as an economic sector.
The expert advised the trainees to take the training course seriously, noting that bird-watching is a skill that brings economic benefits to a nation.
He added that bird-watching is related to responsible tourism, and it contributes a lot to tourism development.
According to the PUM expert, the trainees learned about customer care, as well as other skills that would help them to do their work professionally.
Ousman Kebbeh, project development officer at the GTBoard, thanked members of the Bird Watchers’ Association for requesting for the services of the PUM expert train them improve their skills.
Kebbeh said the training workshop conducted by the experts facilitated knowledge-sharing with the trainees.
He said the GTBoard considers bird-watching as one of the important areas in the tourism sector, and assuring them of the GTBoard’s support.
