The
Institute of Travel and Tourism of The Gambia (ITToG), in collaboration with
Leeds Bucket University and West African Tours, last Tuesday converged at the
Gambia Tourism and Hospitality Institute to deliberate on responsible tourism
with focus on river cruising, in particular cruise ship.
The
one-day forum brought together different tourism stakeholders, including
officials of Gambia Tourism Board, tour operators, tour guides, members of the
parliamentary committee on tourism and craft vendors.
Jeoffrie
Devioto elaborated on the potentials of cruise tourism; one sector of tourism
that is still untapped in The Gambia. He disclosed that Destination Gambia has the
ability to culturally expose and explain herself to a large population as
cruise ships always bring a lot of people in a short time.
He
noted that within the short time, tourists onboard will like to see different
things, especially different aspects of the culture which can create many
ambassadors for the country. He added that the majority of the cruiser
passengers coming to The Gambia are well travelled and they have been to many
countries all over the world.
“Therefore,
within a short time they would like to know what life is like in the country
before and now, how they are similar to the visiting country, know about the
economy, education and have interest to know about the historical past that
makes Gambia unique around the coastal in Africa.”
Devioto
made it clear that the future of cruise tourism in The Gambia involves
diversification of products which require Gambia Tourism Board and ground tour
operators to work together and create new experiences.
Dr
Adama Bah, Chairman of ITToG highlighted on the importance and economic
opportunities of having cruise ships in the country.
He
said the opportunity cruise ships can bring will benefit the country depending
on how the tourists are linked to the local economy to enable them spend. “When
they are here they buy food and drink which should be local but if all they are
buying are coming from abroad then opportunity and profit will not be
maximized.”
He
said to develop upcountry tourism, there is a need to develop the
infrastructure to attract investors.
“Government
needs to develop necessary infrastructure such as power, water jetties (for up
rivers tourism), and a good road network. Once these are available, investors
will start coming because they will see the opportunities.” Dr Bah stated.
Angela
Andrew, Director of West African Tour, Lamin Bojang of GTBoard and members of
the parliamentary committee on tourism all made significant remarks at the
forum while Tejan Nyang, tourism special adviser to the Parliamentary Committee
on Tourism thanked the organiser for the initiative.
