Ceesay made the call during Gambia Tourism Board’s domestic tourism promotion tour.
The tour was part of GTBoard tourism policy and strategy for 2021 to 2031 to significantly engage influencers and journalists, to have a direct experience to be able to help in the pursuit of promoting domestic tourism to reach Destination Gambia.
Also, the tour included various journalists and artistes such as the famous singer, ”Badibunka”, Tik-Tokers and Ms Glorious Haddijatou Njie, Miss-Heritage Global competition, among others, who are believed could play pivotal roles in promoting domestic tourism in The Gambia.
Mr Ceesay said the GTBoard should sell the sector to the outside world to attract new tourists which would be of great significance to their sales. He welcomed the domestic tourism initiative.
“We are faced with challenges of sometimes staying for two to three weeks without making any sales of our products to tourists which is not favorable to us as family men and women,” he explained.
He said he has been in the venture since 1981, adding that he carves some artifacts and buys others for resale.
He pointed out that they mostly encounter low or no sales during the off-tourist season, adding that most of his customers during the tourist season are “repeaters” (tourists who have previously visited the country.)
He therefore urged the Gambia Tourism Board to be more innovative in attracting international tourists that would help boost their market sales.
He said that Gambians are not into buying their artifacts mainly because it is predominantly a Muslim country and do not buy these artifacts.
