(Friday 14th February 2020 Issue)
Hon.
Hamat N.K. Bah, the Minister of Tourism and Culture has told the visiting
Nigeria Academy students that, in The Gambia, tourism has been identified as
one of the eight strategic pillars of the National Development Plan since the
historic advent of the government of His Excellency, the President, Mr Adama
Barrow.
He
highlighted variety of reasons, which includes the need to increase the
economic benefits of this vital sector in terms of providing opportunities for
job creation and wealth generation.
Minister
Bah made these remarks during a meeting on Tuesday February 10th 2020 with
students of the National Defence College of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The meeting that was centred on the theme: “Tourism and National Development in
The Gambia: Prospects and Challenges”, was held at The Gambia Tourism and
Hospitality Institute in Kanifing.
The
team that arrived in The Gambia on Saturday 8th February 2020 are currently on
a regional study tour in country, aimed at promoting participants understanding
of regional environment as well as broaden their perspective on international
politics and how this impact on the countries visited.
The
visiting team comprises of Members of Faculty, Admin staff, and participants of
Course-28 and they are in 3 categories; personnel of the Armed Forces of
Nigeria, personnel of other Ministries, Department and Agencies of the
government of Nigeria and some align participants from Niger, Mali, Rwanda and
Zambia. The tour falls under the Regional Study Module, which is an important component
of the College curriculum.
Minister
Bah spoke at length on the significance of the history and development of
Tourism in The Gambia and as well highlighted the significance of the sector
and its contribution to the national GDP
He
recalled that over five decades, the Smiling Coast has embraced tourism as a
strategic pillar of the national economy. As such,he went on,various policies
and strategies were put in place in terms of developing the institutional and
regulatory framework to ensure a more orderly tourism development and this
entailed the establishment of the Ministry in 1970 and the National Tourism
office later, to spearhead development, regulation and promotion of tourism.
The
Tourism and Culture Minister informed the visiting delegation that the outcome
of these policies was positive as evidenced by the rapid growth of the industry
with the emergence of trendy stock of hotels to accommodate the growing tourist
arrivals.
Given
the changing dynamics of tourism, and the evolving trends in travel and
hospitality, he indicated that there has been renewed emphasis at policy level
on Eco-tourism as well as Responsible Tourism to adequately mainstream the
needs of local people in the industry.
It
is also expected to adequately cater for the needs of the new tourists who are
more discerning, adventurous, quality conscious and who view travel as a means
to experience new cultures and environment.
“As
we speak to you, destination Gambia is gradually evolving into a mature
destination with world class tourism products and services properly oriented
and fine-tuned to serve a range of tourists including those on sea, sun and
sand vacation, cultural and heritage tourists, adventure tourists as well as
eco-tourists,” he revealed.
Minister
Bah added that prospects of conference and or business tourism have never been
brighter with the launching of the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International
Conference Centre.
“Notwithstanding
these achievements, certain constraints prevail, that continue to inhibit
expansion and development of the tourism sector. These include the seasonality
of tourism in The Gambia. It is a perennial challenge and despite the best
efforts of government, Gambia Tourism is still a seasonal affair. Business is
low during the Green Season (June-September) and as such most tourism
establishments cease operations or downscale operations and lay off staff
creating nightmare for most operatives in the industry,” Minister Bah informed
Nigeria visiting Academy students.
He
stated that linkages with other productive sectors of the economy such as
agriculture could be better enhanced to improve forward and backward linkages
so that tourism establishments can source the bulk of their needs from the
local market. He buttressed that hotels and other tourism establishment consume
lot of local food stuff and agricultural produce, but there is room for
improvement in this area to spread the benefits of tourism and increase the
trickle-down effects of tourism.
According
to him, source market diversification is another area that needs improvement to
make destination Gambia less reliant on West European source markets such as
UK, Holland and the Nordic Countries. Regional markets such as Nigeria could be
developed as well as Eastern and Central Europe and the USA.
“Given
the above mentioned constraints, my Ministry is committed to product
development with emphasis on niche products such as cultural tourism,
conference tourism and all other forms of tourism that will amplify our
spectacular and rich cultural heritage, our biodiversity as well as our
new-found opportunities in business and conference tourism,” Minister Bah
affirmed.
For
his part, Brigadier General MA Sanusi, the team leader told the gathering that
the National Defence College of Nigeria was established in 1992 as the apex
military training institution in Nigeria. He revealed that it is one of the
highest and internationally recognised institutions at strategic level in
Sub-saharan Africa and it provides training to senior Nigerian military
officers from the ranks of Colonel and their counterparts in the Nigerian
police at strategic ministries, departments, and agencies as well as senior
military officers from align countries.
Since
the admission of align participants from Tanzania; he stated that the college
has trained over 2476 participants all over the world specifically Asia,
Africa, Europe and South America. The college is also designated as Ecowas
Centre of Excellence for its support of operation training at strategic level.
Since
the inception of the college, Brigadier General MA Sanusi said that it has
recorded significant progress in its academic programmes.He informed the
meeting that the mission of the college is to prepare selected participants for
strategic functions by giving them requisite training andknowledge in order to
perform excellently in national and international assignments.
According
to him, in order to achieve the mission of the college, the programme or
curriculum is organised into 9 modules, and module 5 of the programme mandates
the college to embark on a regional study tour.
The
tour, he added, is also meant to enhance the participants’ appreciation of
issues of geopolitical and socio-economic importance on the global scene and
how this impact on Nigeria’s national development and security. For this
Course-28, a team of 38 members have the privilege to visit The Gambia and they
are very lucky to be here.
“We
believe that the tour will accord the team the opportunity to appreciate the
efforts put in place by The Gambia government to annex the tourism industry for
the overall development of the country. It will also give us the opportunity to
draw lessons from all those things we have seen in this place for Nigerian
government to learn from. It is our belief that the tour will provide the
opportunity to improve the already existing cordial relationship between The
Gambia and Nigeria,” he noted.
He
further thanked The Gambia through Minister Bah for the warm reception accorded
to them since they arrived in the country.
The
ceremony was chaired by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism and
Culture, Cordu Linguere Jabang-Senghore.
