Once
upon a time the Gambia tourism industry was bedeviled with a range of menaces
including the ever present bumster syndrome. This bumster menace caught the
imagination of many a tourism stakeholder including visitors to the Smiling
Coast. However, there existed a silent and conspicuous menace – indiscriminate
dumping and littering of our beaches , which, though, did not make headline
news as the notorious bumster menace, was equally damaging and a scar on the
image of Gambia Tourism .
Series
of studies conducted at the level of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, have
attested to this fact, including feedback received from various visitors and
tourists to the Smiling Coast, through exit surveys at the airport. This was
also corroborated by the Tourism Development Master Plan study in later years
and accordingly concluded that “the rating for cleanliness/environmental
sanitation is clearly disappointing.” “Less than half of the sample rated it as
“good “and indeed 22% rated it as ‘poor” or ‘very poor”. It went on to conclude
that ‘this is an issue on which action will have to be taken by the tourism
authorities”.
This
was indeed a bad news, given that “over the years traditional guest concerns
such as price and location have been augmented by contemporary values such as
support for local communities, preference for quality services, with full commitment
to resource efficiency in terms of clean
air, water and the general environment’.
This
is coupled with the fact that the beach constitute our core product, which
revolves around sea, sun and sand, and consequently according to a World Bank report coastal tourism account for
more than 10 percent of GDP and sitting aside while our gorgeous beaches were
being debased, was not the answer.
Environmental
Challenges and the way forward
The
tourism environmental challenge manifested itself in many ways, but the most
visible included indiscriminate dumping around the Tourism Development Area,
littering of our gorgeous beaches as well as debasing of our beaches through sand mining and other
areas frequented by our coveted guests and tourists. The need to tackle the
environmental and sanitary challenges of tourism, head on, therefore became
imperative.
In
quest to tackle these environmental challenges once and for all, TESSU ‘Tourism
Environmental Sanitation Unit” was created by the defunct National Tourist
Office, with the blessing of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, shortly
before the massive demolition of beach bars, as the rapid response force and the environmental/sanitation wing of
Gambia Tourism. The original function of the Unit includes, amongst others, the
cleansing of the TDA on a regular basis and the clearing of the myriad of
illegal dumpsites scattered across the length and breadth of the TDA and serving as the eyes and ears of the
government in its efforts to curb illegal sand mining.
The
original staff complement of the Unit was very modest, due to budgetary
constraints of the National Tourist Office- a hugely under resourced and
understaffed office (1970 – 2001), which was set up by the Government of the
day, to serve as the operational wing and liaison for tourism development and
promotion even before the creation of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture.
Augmenting
the Capacity of TESSU
However,
over time, the role, functions and the strength of the Unit were augmented in
terms of manpower and their capacity boosted in terms of providing them with
adequate tools and equipment needed to discharge their core function
effectively. This capacity strengthening
intervention was undertaken by the successor to the National Tourist office-
the now defunct Gambia Tourism Authority (GTA) and elevated to similar heights
by the GTBOARD.
Today
the unit is staffed mostly by young men and women and according to informed
sources – ‘TESSU has evolved in terms of their roles’, but ‘their core function
remains the upkeep of the TDA in terms of rubbish collection and clearing of
unauthorized dumpsites as well as monitoring the beaches to thwart sand mining
and related environmental malpractices’.
Emerging
Challenges
This
role is even more crucial given the rise of the ‘back to school’/ ‘beach
picnic’ syndrome - a phenomenon by which
young school going boys and girls choose the beach as a place to frolic and
chill- out especially during the long
summer holidays and during weekends.
These
social events attract lot of people, from diverse background, who choose the
beach as their hotspot to idle away and reconnect nothing wrong with that,
except the indiscriminate littering.
The
task of restoring sanity in our beaches falls under the purview of the GTBoard,
and invariably various measures have been put in place by the Board to control
the indiscriminate littering of our beaches by the local youth folk and other
users of the beach.
‘Unsung
Heroes’
Despite
tangible efforts to curb the menace, the problem still persists and there is
still room for improvement, especially during the summer months and the peak
season. As such TESSU’s hands are full
and many a times, these humble operatives under the payroll of the GTBoard could
be spotted along the beaches, and the Bertl Harding Highway, collecting and
managing rubbish/thrash, and ensuring the cleanliness of the environment,
within and around the Tourism Development Area.
No wonder one frequent visitor to the Smiling Coast describes them as
the ‘unsung heroes of the Tourism Development Area’.
In
conclusion, I would like to point out that this article has been inspired by
the sayings of one of the erudite scholars of tourism management- Professor
Ernie Heath of the university of Pretoria, school of Tourism Management, who
famously extorted us all to “remember that in tourism not one of us is as good
as all of us, and every one of us can make a difference”. He went on to point
out that “if we can light the small candles, the tourism flames of our
respective destinations will shine brighter and brighter”.
By
Lamin Saho
The
author is 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)
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