Although
The Gambia seems to have been lacking behind in terms of tourist arrivals even
before the political impasse of 2016 presidential elections, nevertheless the
political impasse has further worsened the situation with more severe setbacks
when the ex-president refused to cede defeat in the presidential elections.
There
were travel warnings from the foreign offices of the tourists’ source markets,
followed by withdrawals of tour operators putting the sector at a standstill
half way to the end of January resulting to huge losses to the entire tourism
and industry and economy of the county.
Apparently,
growth in tourists’ arrivals in many countries can experience setbacks when
confronted with such political instabilities.
According
to the vice Chairman of The Gambia Hotel Association tourism in The Gambia
might have loss approximately over 200 million dalasis after tourists withdrew
from the country during the political impasse, which the Director of Gambia
Tourism Board suggests was even worse than that of 2014 Ebola outbreak. “During
the impasse hotels had 0% occupancy rate as oppose to that of Ebola when some
tourists visited the country despite the fear (ibid)”.
It
is a great economic lost to the county, for the industry and for tourists.
Over
the last two decades, tourism has proved to be the world’s fastest growing
economic sector and therefore all hands should be on the deck to put the
tourism sector in The Gambia back on its feet again.
Officials
of the Gambia’s tourism ministry are said to have “confirmed having meeting
with stakeholders over the situation in the sector which they admit was
“seriously” affected by the impasse”.
The
minister also revealed that they intend “to bring back the tourists and even to
extend the tourist season to April”. He suggests that the new government will
do all it takes to attract more tourists to the country, adding that The Gambia
is safer than any other place as a tourist destination”.
That
is certainly a strong and promising message. However, the weight of the message
and its long term impact on the benefits of tourism in the county lies in who
controls the narrative of the market situation, and who carries the message.
How
can we use the situation to reform the industry, how can we control the
narratives from a national perspective to make a change in the status quo
concerning who controls when tourists comes or withdraws from the destination?
Who gives the travel advice, when and how? Do we let others do the job to
regain market confidence or do we do it ourselves? Why is it important that The
Gambia should try to build market confidence from a national perspective rather
than from a tour operator perspective? How do we capitalise on the situation
and turn it into an opportunity?
Minister
Bah has revealed some collaborative efforts in the pipeline between government
and some embassies in the country resulting to quick revision of travel advices
by tourists’ source destination. That is encouraging and the ambition to bring
back tourists to The Gambia should be very strategic and in the best possible
manner that would enhance sustainability.
As
business environments become more fragile because of their sensitivity to
turbulence situations, as well as the increasing competition, organisations are
also increasingly looking at their human resources as a competitive advantage
tool.
The
political impasse should be regarded as a blessing in disguise, proving the
opportunity to show the whole world that Gambians are the most peace loving
people in world, who fought and removed a 22 years of dictatorial regime
without violence! It is exemplary, and it’s only Gambians who knows how their
socio-cultural fabrics are set up. Of course all credit is due to the efforts
of the Ecowas regional block in their effort to help bring back peace in The
Gambia, however despite a 22 years of brutal rule, Gambians have demonstrated
the true peaceful nature as well as a culture and tradition of coexistence that
binds the Gambian people and most definitely, why it is nick named “The Smiling
Coast”, or “Gambia, no Problem”!
Thus
it is only Gambians who can now market the county using this unique
socio-cultural capital of the destination that has been very instrumental in
show casting the peaceful nature of Gambians! It provides an opportunity that
should be used for Gambia to break away from its traditional all-inclusive sun,
sea and sand tourism which is not unique for the county to a more socio-cultural
oriental form of tourism which can bring more benefits to the country.
Drammeh
(2014) suggests that, indigenous knowledge is part of the human capital that
contains knowledge about the destination. This is a component of the
destination capitals with ability to discover, create and preserve production
factors. It is one of the three important destination capitals that is an
essential component for a sustainable tourism development in a least developed
county which local people have control over and can influence. With the growth
of tourism coupled with tourist’s demand for additional products and services,
has been an encouraging factor for locals to use their knowledge of the local
resources to get involved and participate in tourism development in many Least
Developed Countries.
According
to World Tourism Organization (WTO, 1997a) estimates, about 80% of
international tourism projects (including international hotel and airline) are
controlled by trans-national Corporations.
These
companies have an almost unhindered access to markets and have used that
opportunity to create a market monopoly that is making it difficult for many
local SMEs to compete or to even survive.
The
Gambia suffers some of the greatest leakages and consequently has some of
weakest economic benefits from tourism from such types of businesses.
Consequently, what often appears to be a normal commercial relationship
international tour operators and a developing country may actually be the
result of a network of anti-competitive practices arising from a globalised and
highly integrated tourism trading environment, dominated by a few suppliers in
the originating tourism market.
As
a consequence of the type of tourism that has been developed in The Gambia, the
multiplier effect of the tourism businesses in the country is relatively very
low; a country that is primarily an agricultural nation with an underdeveloped
manufacturing and service industry. One of the techniques companies utilise to
attract and retain consumers is product branding (Yip, 2005). The Gambia is
already branded as an all-inclusive winter destination.
We
must strive to make our destination to be known and recognised by visitors for
the product we want to put in the market in accordance with our national
ambition and policy for tourism development. The Gambia has been branded as
seasonal destination. The basic concept behind this is to establish a standard
on which consumers may rely to estimate value and to differentiate a company’s
product from competitive products (Yip, 2005). Our aim now should be to follow
the recommendations in The Gambia tourism development Master plan and aim for
an all year round cultural tourism destination.
Tourism
is by now too important and pervasive an activity to be ignored, and any
government that accepts a degree of responsibility for the pattern and pace of
economic activity of its country must be conscious of the emergence of the
‘post- industrial society’ or ‘service economy’ and for the need to meet the
new challenges of such changes (Huges, 1984). Consequently, with the political
impasse coming to past, it is now time for Gambia to take the lead and control
of the affairs of its tourism industry. The assumption here is that tour
operators are keener to protect their own interest than that of the
destination. With such kind of situation that The Gambia finds itself, tour
operators bringing tourists in the country are more likely keen to promote
their all-inclusive intension in disguise for safety reasons.
Our
goal for development policy is to achieve sustainable development in The
Gambia, which is normally understood to require long-term economic growth,
environmental protection and social justice, particularly in the form of
poverty reduction. The intention is to create a model of tourism development
that inter-links services serving not only the amusement of tourist but also
contribute in the buildings pillars for a sustainable tourism development in
the county.
The
all-inclusive seasonal nature of the tourism business environment must change
for good, and we must now use the political impasse as an opportunity to
promote cultural tourism. Human capital is therefore a strategic business tool
that can help The Gambia to become efficient, stay competitive, increase
productivity, regain its market and to even grow. It is the key element in
improving a firm’s assets and employees to increase productivity as well as
sustain competitive advantage (Schultz, 1993). Thus, in the work to attract
tourist back to the destination, it would be far more beneficial for The Gambia
to take the leading role and not to leave everything in the hands of tour
operators and foreign PR firms.
Among
transformative issues our industry has been facing is tour operator control and
unfriendliness of the former government and its agents in utilising the
available opportunities among the Gambian diasporas in marketing and promotion
activities. While tour operators are doing their job of marketing and promoting
their tours and products, we should also now create the environment and
opportunity to promote the industry in a manner that would provide
opportunities for visitors to explore the socio-cultural distinction between
them and the destination and the hospitality of our people.
Gambian
societies outside The Gambia are very progressive all over the world and
provide a platform through their yearly Gambian Cultural Weeks celebrations and
other events to market and promote The Gambia.
In
Scandinavia for instance, from the year 2005 to 2009 Gambia Tourism Authority
have had marketing and promotion activities, by establishing a tourist office
in Gothenburg, and the results of such a relationship speaks well for itself on
the arrival statistics figures.
The
Gambia must therefore use its own human capital and resources to tell the world
what we have, and tell our story from an indigenous perspective. We encourage
authorities to capitalitise on the verse knowledge and experience of our
veterans on the ground as part of the advisory resource on the way forward for
the tourism industry in our new Gambia.
By
Yaya Dammeh, Gothenburg, Sweden
