Despite
virulent spreading virus across the world, the director general of Gambia
Tourism Board (GTBoard) has Tuesday expressed optimism about future of tourism
sector in The Gambia.
Abdoulie
Hydara who went around with some of the senior officials of the Gambia Tourism
Board to visit some of the hotels, stakeholders and investors across the
tourism development area said he was very optimistic that the tourism in the
country will be back to its glorious days soon after covid-19 pandemic.
“We
are very optimistic taking into consideration that the country was able to
overcome past crises that hindered the boom of the sector such as previous ban
on casinos and gambling centers, Ebola Virus epidemic, December 1 2016 impasse,
the collapse of Thomas Cook airlines which we were able to bridge the gap and
now this covid-19 pandemic.”
While
expressing optimism, he added that after the coronavirus pandemic “we will come
out bigger and better,” he assured.
After
the visit to some of the hotels across the TDA, he confirmed that all hotels in
the country are empty “but the intention of the visit was to look at the entire
industry to have first hand information on present situations as regards to our
guests/tourists, stakeholders, investors in the industry so that we can share
their situation, sympathise and show solidarity with them.”
Among
other reasons for visiting was to have meeting with the stakeholders and
investors to strengthen their hopes. “We already put in good plans for the
coming season and we are hopeful that it is not going to be a long period of
time to get out of the covid-19 pandemic,” DG Hydara said.
He
disclosed that tourism is volatile and highly sensitive and quickly called out
for support. “Tourism is very fragile and we need support and encouragement
while all hands should be on deck to bring back the industry to its glorious
days.
The
director general dilated on the contribution of the sector to the country’s
economy in terms of GDP, job creations and employments, foreign exchange among
others. He noted that the industry “has 42,000 people benefiting from direct
employment.”
He
noted further that the industry constitutes 18 to 20 percent of the GDP. He
emphasised that before the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic, his institution
was working on the “satellite account to establish the true empirical data that
was going to inform us the true contribution of tourism to GDP. According to
the forecast, it is between 20 and 25 percent.” Meaning the GTBoard’s
estimation is lower than the actual contribution but hopes that it will be
disclosed soon after the coronavirus pandemic.
