By Mariatou Ngum
The tourism sector in The Gambia has been among the hardest hit of all sectors by the Covid-19 pandemic. The outbreak has rendered many youth and women working in the informal economic sector jobless, as businesses were forced to close in accordance with government’s frantic measures to contain and eliminate the deadly viral disease.
Now that the pandemic is recoiling back, we are in the moment of building back, and experts and policy makers believe that this could be done so even better.
In this exclusive interview with the Director General (DG) of The Gambia Tourism Board (GTBOARD) Mr. Abubacarr S Camara, he opined that the pandemic could be a blessing in disguise in many respects. “Covid-19 is mix-bag of merits and demerits, and an opportunity to rethink tourism and revisit their strategies to adjust to the new normal and craft the right products to suit the emerging market segments”.
He observed that the tourist destinations that are most affected are those that are mainly dependent on international tourism, and that destinations that were quick to come back to business even during Covid-19 were those that have diversified the tourism offer to accommodate domestic tourism.
For more, follow the question and answer below:
Q: There seems to be a remarkable advancement in the tourism and culture sector under the leadership of Hon. Hamat N.K. Bah, could you share with us your detailed assessment of the sector since you took over this office?
DG: Thank you so much for this brilliant question. Given my length of service in the tourism sector, which spanned several years and rising through the ladder, I was fortunate to work with various personalities at both policy and technical levels, but based on realistic assessment I am happy to point out that Honorable Hamat N.K Bah is one of the best and most action-oriented ministers of Tourism and Culture. This is not a surprise, though, because unlike others before him, he is lucky to have worked in this industry and manned various responsible positions and therefore very conversant with the various issues at operational level and the stakeholder concerns. Invariably, it goes without saying that he knows the nitty-gritty of the industry and hence he is just doing exactly what matters to take this industry forward.
As for how far the sector has come since I took over; as you already know I took over office at the peak of the Covid 19 pandemic and no need to belabor on the point that this global pandemic has affected all sectors and almost brought tourism to its knees. In fact, it will not be farfetched to point out that this period is one of the worst for tourism globally and The Gambia in particular. As you know tourism is a hospitality industry and anchored on travel and people-to-people contact, but the mantra of the period was “stay home and travel later”. As such, travel and tourism became the worst casualties of this advisory and translated into the total closure of all tourism businesses (e.g Hotels, Ground Operators, and Restaurants and support systems such as the airport etc) to avoid the risk of contracting Covid.
Therefore, my preoccupation was to strategise the best ways possible to ensure resilience and safe reopening of the sector and at the same time assess in tandem with the MoTC and other stakeholders the impact on the many Gambians depending on this vital sector. Based on these findings, we were able to design mitigation and coping strategies for the broad spectrum of the industry, with a view to withstanding the shock and economic fallout emanating from the closure of businesses. Given the important role of tourism to the national economy, our overarching priority was to ensure that the tourism industry remain resilient in the face of this unprecedented shock and hoping that it would fizzle out soon. As such, I and team at the level of the GTBoard worked day and night towards post-Covid recovery, hoping that it was going to be contained sooner, rather than later.
Q: Domestic tourism in The Gambia was a far-fetched dream, as we only received international tourists but now we have seen Gambians visiting, in numbers, local hotels and spending weekends with their families, something that was not as common; what do you think is responsible for this?
DG: Thank you for another brilliant question. Yes, it is non-controversial to say that one of the lessons learnt from Covid-19 is the fact that it is extremely dangerous to put all your eggs in one basket. You will realise that most of the tourist destinations that are most affected are those that are mainly dependent on international tourism. Destinations that were quick to come back to business even during Covid 19 were those that have diversified the tourism offer to accommodate domestic tourism.
Thus, with the support of our line Ministry of Tourism and Culture we had to quickly re-strategise and come with alternative interventions to kick-start domestic tourism. As such work started in earnest to roll out tourism mandatory protocols in close collaborations with tourism stakeholders. Consequently, with the support of partners at the Ministry of Health, tourism businesses were allowed to operate their entities with strict adherence to the protocols cum guidelines.
Given that a lot of Gambians and their families, especially the growing Gambian middle class, were so fed-up with the continuous lock-down, it was so easy to lure them to avail themselves to the boundless options in the hospitality industry, to relax, wind down and change the environment from normal routine.
Q: We have learnt that The Gambia Tourism Board has deployed regional tourism managers across the country, how does this process help in promoting tourism in The Gambia?
DG: I always have the belief that The Gambia has indeed a lot more to offer in terms of tourism; besides our conventional type of tourism (i.e. Sun Sea and Sand) and that the real beauty of this blessed land can be found all across the length and breadth of the country.
Given that tourism in destination Gambia, like every other developing country around the globe, is one of the main engines for sustainable development, we have all it takes to make it happen and bring tourism to the door steps of every region by increasing the geographic scope and impact, given our biodiversity, diverse cultural and heritage assets both tangible and intangible, all rooted in our legendary hospitality and conviviality.
We only have to do a bit of promotion to create awareness at national level on the beauty and the many possibilities in tourism. At the same time given that tourism is experience based industry, there is need to craft the right products rooted in the various attractions, as well as the hard infrastructure to serve the needs of various tourists in the regions.
Q: You have highlighted how the country; your sector in particular, successfully dealt with the challenge of Covid-19; how prepared are we for another potential crisis?
DG: We pray that we do not encounter another crisis. However, given that tourism is too sensitive and very prone to crises, with the knowledge and experience learnt from Ebola, the collapse of Thomas Cook and from Covid we are now better-off in plans for such eventualities. First, we realised that partnership with stakeholders, coordination and mobilisation of resources will go a long way towards the quest for resilience; hence such strategic partnerships are now being forged and nurtured. In addition to that, we are working on setting up a credit union for the tourism and hospitality employees with support of the Spanish Red Cross and funding from the EU. Furthermore, we are also working on a tourism fund for the industry.
Q: There are still illegal activities and encroachments within the Tourism Development Areas. Now that the season has commenced, what is your office doing to stop these activities?
Illegal activities and encroachments within the TDA is not something new and honestly speaking the GTBoard has over the years gone a long way towards tackling this menace. We have a dedicated enforcement unit at the GTBoard whose main job is to stop these from happening and many a times with the support of the Tourism Security Unit (TSU).
However, last year and this year the operations of both the enforcement unit as well as the TSU are supported by a dedicated and newly created legal unit at the GTBaord. These strides and interventions, amongst others, have indeed enhanced the desire to curb these menaces amongst others
Q: The Tourism and Culture Ministry has always top the NDP goals in terms of achievements, what is your institution doing to make sure that the Ministry stays in this position?
Indeed, with the continued guidance of the governing body and by extension our line ministry as well as stakeholders and partners, we will stay focused and work towards achieving all the goals and aspirations of the NDP to increase the impact of tourism. We will ensure it is people-centred and rooted in our culture and heritage, while diversifying the scope and focus of source markets.
Q: Can you share with us your plans and projects in the coming year in order to recover from the damages of Covid?
Indeed COVID 19 has been very devastating for the Tourism Sector, and almost threw spanners in our works. But going forward we learnt critical lessons and the need to remain focused and strategic in our operations. This would require us to consolidate on the gains already registered in many fronts including developing both the demand and supply side of tourism. In terms of supply side, which focuses on developing the infrastructure both soft and hard to complement the range of resort facilities and enhancing the capacity of service providers, for tourism to thrive,we are rolling out a number of flagship projects.
First, we are working on our OFFICE headquarters and by grace of Allah GTBoard will soon boast of its own Office Complex. Also, GTBoard has also started the construction ofTDA feeder/street roads (i.e. African Princess /Tamala/Kunta Kinteh Road,Spybar/Mansea/Seaview Road, BijiloAtlast/Lemon Creek Roads. The construction of the Palma Rima Craft market is also on the way. We will also put-up Streets Lights, undertake Tree planting exercises andbeatification of the TDA with Artworks, construction of regional office complexes, work on which will commence soon. These projects are designed in a way to augment the paucity of facilities in the TDA, enhance the operating environment and ensure a more exciting and interesting destination.
Q: What is your final word?
DG: Tourism is good for the people and institutions and that’s why it should be everybody’s business, given the variety of benefits it brings. It is noncontroversial to point out that tourism has experienced series of shocks during the past years; ranging from the Ebola outbreak, the collapse of Thomas Cook, the devastating Covid-19 and recently Ukraine and Russia conflict. All these have very negative effects on tourism. Therefore, I would call on everyone, every institution, every stakeholder and every partner to support our valued goose that lays the golden eggs. I would like to send a special appeal to the Area Councils as well as the commercial banks to come to the aid of the tourism and hospitality businesses; especially the hotels given that they have suffered a great deal in terms of business and any waiver/support accorded them will help.