Foray
in to Tourism
It
all began in the dawn of this millennium, precisely in January 2000 when I was
called to attend an interview at the Public Service Commission (PSC) for the
post of Senior Tourism Officer at the then National Tourist office- a unit set
up in 1970 for tourism liaison and later in 1974 became the implementing wing
of the newly formed Ministry of Tourism and Culture tasked with the core function
of tourism management, promotion and development.
The
interview went ahead as smoothly as possible under the able chairmanship of the
late Sulayman Massaneh Ceesay, also a product of the Russian scholarship Scheme
in the late 6Os and we even exchanged one or two words in Russian. A few days later the secretary to the PSC one
Saul Manneh walked in to my office at the NGO Affairs Agency in the Quadrangle
to hand over my letter of redeployment to the National Tourist Office as Senior Tourism Officer: Marketing.
He gave one or two words of advice but one advice that stood out was the need
to see this new assignment as a challenge given the enormity of the task at
hand and that tourism is in the throes of a major challenge. I later realized that he was referring
to the cessation of operations by FTI –
a German Tour Operator and this had impacted negatively on tourism in terms of
arrivals and also because the bumster issue had run amok and was out of control
with all the concomitant effects on this volatile but lucrative industry.
Thanks
were showered on him for the kind words of advice and assured him that I will
rise to the challenge INSHALLAH armed with the inspiration of my role model Hag
Hammanshold – the second UN Secretary General who famously said that “faced
with the world of others, one learns that he who has fully absorbed what his
own world has to offer is best equipped to profit by what extends beyond its
frontiers- the road inwards could become the road outwards”.
I
reported to the National Tourist Office, and then under the Directorship of Mr
MBO Cham – a very experienced man, who actually loves Gambia tourism and was a
real hard worker. His only crime was that he is honest and a sincere man who
cared so much for the industry, but greatly misunderstood and this cost him the
Directorship in later years.
Thus
began my foray in to Tourism and following the usual protocols and introduction
to the staff of the NTO and by extension the larger Ministry, the then Permanent Secretary Mr. Omar Y. Njie – of blessed memory and one of the
strongest Permanent Secretary’s I crossed path with and admired as a true
professional, was elated to know that my background was international
relations.
The
late Omar Y. Njie cut his teeth as a career diplomat in the Gambia Foreign
Service prior to his redeployment to the Ministry of Tourism and Culture
including another former Permanent secretary Bai Ousman Secka – current Gambian
envoy to Mauritania. It was a very sad day when with other colleagues, years
later, I attended the funeral ceremony of late Omar Y. Njie at the Pipe line
mosque. He passed away after a long bout
of illness.
At
the office level, slowly but surely, I settled down to work, and realized that
tourism in the Gambia was not at its best in the dawn of the millennium and the
Director of Tourism Mr MBO Cham was evidently very concerned and saw my
recruitment as a blessing to inject intellectual weight to a very demoralized
staff complement.
Millennium
Tourism Challenges
Work
commenced in earnest and I started by tackling first the routine issues of
responding to the myriad of requests by overseas potential tourists, repeat
visitors who would write and occasionally make request/and or complain about
one or two things about specific aspects of tourism in destination Gambia, but
at the same time, weighing the enormity of the task at the macro level. Tourism, as a dynamic global industry, was undergoing through a
gradual paradigm shift, from mass tourism to ecotourism, from sea, sun and sand
to sustainable tourism, where the needs of the visitors are balanced against
the needs of the hosts including focus on environmental, cultural and
socio-economic impact of tourism for now and posterity, also known as
Responsible Tourism.
There
were also very strong voices in the industry for policy shifts towards other
more people centered forms of tourism such as cultural tourism and to
mainstream the needs of small scale enterprises in tourism and at the same time
encourage community led tourism development, and the need to encourage
independent travel and encourage public –private partnership in tourism
management and development at destination level.
There was an urgent need to place emphasis on
product richness and quality not just on price, thus the need for classification
of Gambian hospitality outfits and to mainstream quality in tourism, and to
shift emphasis from marketing spree to targeted marketing, source market
diversification and “tribal” marketing,
as well as e.marketing to underscore
the emerging role of the
internet. All these policy options were against the backdrop of stiff
competition amongst destinations as various nations chase the tourist dollar
amidst global challenges exacerbated by the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US
and looming economic tumble.
The
urgent need to put in place strategies geared towards tampering the negative
effects of tourism at local level such as the notorious bumster issue, surge of
prostitution in the TDA, child sex tourism as well as pedophilia, tourism
environmental challenges and at the same time address the vital issue of tourism product obsolescence were high on the
agenda . Some of these issues were around since the inception of tourism,
efforts were put in place over the years to address them squarely, but became
more pronounced in the dawn of the new millennium and there could not have been
a more appropriate moment to tackle all these challenges head on so as to
create the foundation for a 21st century tourism destination.
In
search of a strategy for sustained Tourism Development
Then
enter Honorable Yankouba Touray, who from the word go unveiled a very ambitious
programme of tourism revitalization to cut across both the demand and supply
side aspects of tourism development.
With
the benefit of hindsight, I now concluded he was thoroughly briefed about the
ailing industry and the need to inject more vigour and dynamism in tourism to
be able to tackle and redress the myriad of policy and operational challenges.
Given that his task was caught out neatly for him, he straight away went to
work and as the saying goes charity begins at home, his first task was to give
the entire office a face lift and as such his own office was spruced up and
with new furniture and the entire office repainted to give it a new aura and as
he put it “tourism as a strategic sector should have a high profile and the
starting point is the office”.
I
concur, because in other tourism destinations, that is the case and tourism is
accorded the status of a strategic sector and their ministers of tourism are
considered very important personalities of the executive including the
Permanent Secretaries of their respective Ministries of Tourism. On their
foreign trips these high level executives are even accompanied by their
Personal assistants who dish out their business cards as and when necessary and
take briefs accordingly to facilitate the Minister’s engagements. All these
gives the aura of importance and the significance attaches to tourism as a key
and commanding sector in those countries... In the Gambian context, certain
“technical Ministers” of Tourism during the former regime sometimes travel on
official missions unaccompanied, even leaving their Permanent Secretaries
behind, apparently to “cut down cost” and usually rely on host agencies to
prepare their briefs and reports, wrong! The authorities of the new Gambia
should discourage such practice.
As
a shrewd and prolific Minster Yankuba Touray also used to summon regular
briefings of his senior personnel including the seasoned Director of Tourism and I suspect the
objective was so debrief them to know the extent of the task at hand. Various
measures were put in place to commence in earnest the Tourism Development
Master Plan study with support from the African Development Bank. In a bid to
tamper and roll back the negative effects of tourism, the AG Chambers had an
assignment and this was to draft the Tourism Offenses Bill which eventually
became the Tourism Offenses Act to tackle child sex tourism, pedophilia and the
bumster syndrome.
Taskforces
and Institutional Development
This
was followed by the setting up of various task forces with specific mandates to
tackle an ailing industry and to boost the Institutional framework including
the setting up of the Gambia Tourism Authority, which was central in the
strategy to be able to serve as the key implementing arm of the Ministry and to
handle the myriad of emerging tourism challenges head on. The creation of the
GTA was therefore a very strategic move and a giant step for tourism development
in destination Gambia.
Series
of other taskforces were constituted as well to kick start development at both
demand and supply side including special task force on Destination Marketing,
special task force on the resettlement programme for small scale operators such
as beach bar operators, juice processors, craft market vendors – the overall
objective was to revisit the modus operanda of this small scale operators,
enhance their operational environment so as to boost their morale and inculcate
in them a sense of responsibility and nurture in them service culture and
tourist friendly attitude..
There
was another taskforce on tourist taxis – these are the officially recommended
tourist taxis painted green, and their services are vital for tourists, but
overtime, guest complaints about poor customer care and product obsolescence
have become common and the need to revisit their operations was apparent.
Another key programme was the task force on the official tourist guides- a very
important scheme set up by the first minister of Tourism during the second
republic Ms Susan Waffa Oggoo, – the lady with the winning smiles and the
Minister I once referred to as the “number one marketer-in- chief of Gambia
tourism, I think it was during the annual tourism convergence at the Kairaba
Beach hotel in 2005. She also initiated the International Roots Homecoming
Festival in 1996 as well as the tourism week in 1995 to mark the 30th
anniversary of Gambia Tourism. These were wonderful initiatives indeed and
kudos for that and it was also under her watch that the National Tourism Policy
1995-2000 was formulated.
The
need to revisit the Tourist Guide scheme with a view to consolidating it was
very apparent, with a view to beef up the depleting stock as members of the
original cohort went in search of greener pastures.
As
the only graduate of the National Tourist Office, I rose to the challenge when
I was tasked to craft a project proposal for the attention of the UNDP, for
funding by FASE- Fight Against Social and Economic Exclusion Project, then
under the able stewardship of Mr. Ernest Aubee, and to serve as the executive
secretary and lead coordinator of the second phase of the tourist guide
training project in conjunction with the National Youth Service Scheme. Other
relevant tasks forces followed and these included the high level task force on
security which was formed to lay the ground for the setting up of the Tourist
security Unit. I straight away rose to the challenge and took my pen to
document all the major conclusions and recommendations for each of these
relevant task forces. In the process I became so au-fait with the issues in
tourism that to date this has been one of my core strengths.
Speech
Writing and Rising through the Ranks
Perhaps
one of the key and notable outcomes of this role was not only to grasp the
issues to my finger tips, but to metamorphose in to the humble official speech
writer of the tourism industry at policy and technical levels. Concurrently, I
also rose through the ranks from Senior Tourism Officer -NTO, Marketing
Officer- GTA, Marketing Manager- GTA, and Director of Marketing GTA/GTBoard to
Director of Planning, Ministry of Tourism and Culture, thus completing “the
orbit through tourism space”.
The
task of a speech writer is colossal, because you are called to duty at any time
to prepare written statements for key officials, and subjects cover all the
issues under the sun, and apart from style and presentation, mastering the
semantics, trends, one is tasked to lay out the facts as the subject matter
specialist, in a very coherent manner and to reflect official policy and to
clearly lay emphasis on issues of colossal significance for the day. In a nut shell you have to wear the cap of
the high level official who will eventually read the script and read his or her
mind, literally to “decode” with a view to pointing out exactly the key issues
he/she was going to articulate either at operational or policy level and
pinpoint all that needed to be said on the auspicious occasion without any
ambiguity.
A
very difficult and onerous task indeed, but what aided me most was the mastery
of the issues to the core and the GOD given writing skills. This has aided and
abetted me greatly and I sometimes give credit to ALLAH, given that for almost
seven years I was schooled in another language- Russian, a very difficult
eastern/Slavic language rooted in Greek syllables with 35 alphabets, as opposed
to English with 22 alphabets and roots in Latin. How I was able to make a
comeback with my skills in writing the English language despite the corrosive
effects of learning and speaking the Russian language (Russki Yasik)- the
medium of instruction during university days in Ukraine for almost seven good
years still baffles me. But in this world noting is impossible in my view, if
the will is there and the blessing if Allah at ones disposal. Just to point out
that my master’s degree thesis “Kursovaya Rabota” (course/academic work), on
the theme “Regional Integration as a strategy for economic development and
cooperation with special reference to the European Union” was researched,
written and defended in Russian.
Personal
Development: Capacity Building in Tourism and Destination Marketing
Cognizant
of the fact that my area of study and specialization – International Relations
is not synonymous with Tourism, that even though I have been gradually grasping
the issues, I needed to polish my training credentials in tourism, I there and
then decided to take every training opportunity that came my way. Accordingly I undertook series of specialized
training in destination marketing and tourism management and strategy in
diverse centres of learning such as the prestigious University of Bocconi in
Milan, Italy, Cyprus School of Tourism Management in Nicosia, Kaoshiuing
Hospitality Institute in Taiwan, the former Commonwealth Tourism Centre in
Luala Lumpur, Malaysia as well as the Mount Carmel International Training
Centre in Israel.
Overtime
I cut my teeth as the humble tourism speech writer par excellence and I can
safely say that there was hardly a Permanent Secretary, Minister of
Tourism from 2000 -2012 who have not
benefitted from my speech writing skills including all the Director Generals of
GTA/GTBoard such as the seasoned and pragmatic Mr Kaliba Senghore who used to
call me “Alifabaa” and Mr Alieu Mboge- a seasoned manager. Perhaps the high point in this journey was
when I was called to duty to serve as the Executive Secretary and one of the
lead coordinators of the now defunct African Travel Association (ATA) Annual
Congress, which was ably hosted by destination Gambia in 2010.
In
the same vein, in one of the tourism convergences at the Kairaba Beach Hotel,
then minister of Tourism and Culture Ms Fatou Mass Jobe- Njie, surprisingly
even called me aside after an eloquent speech delivery to commend me for a
wonderful job in crafting a very rich and pointed speech for her and I think it
was the launching of the high level training programme on Tourism Statistics
supported by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) in June
2012.
Sequel to that
the then Permanent Secretary at
the Ministry of Tourism and Culture Mr
Momodou Joof – a man I consider a wordsmith, cultural expert, and one of the
best writers in the system, then, and very eloquent and articulate also
discovered my writing skills and to my amusement he would occasionally call me
to his office and make complimentary remarks about my writing skills and how my
draft statements have left lasting impressions on him especially the draft
statements I authored for the President of the Republic and the Honourable
Minister of Tourism and Culture on the
occasion of the high level convergence of ECOWAS tourism ministers in Banjul in
July 2012.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, even if I have not been
rewarded for my speech writing skills enough, and later felt abandoned by my
professional colleagues during very trying times, due to ailment, but those
kind words were highly appreciated and were a source of inspiration and went a
long way to show that people appreciated and valued my little and humble
contribution in making the tourism industry reach higher heights. Tourism is a
complex system of integrated parts, and one thing is clear, to grasp the
nitty-gritty of tourism, one needs to understand and grasp the issues that make
tourism tick. On a final note this piece is dedicated to the current DG,
GTBoard, and an upright man who also benefitted from my speech writing skills
when I was COMCEC Project Coordinator in 2016. Unlike many, he did not only say
“thank you” but I was rewarded handsomely as well.
By
Lamin Saho
The
author operates as a freelance tourism and marketing consultant and was
formerly Senior Tourism Officer (National Tourist Office)-2000- 2002. Former
Director of Marketing, GTA/GTBoard/ (2006-2012) and briefly served as Director
of Planning, Ministry of Tourism & Culture (2012)
