Updated
May 26, 2003

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The tourism sector is instituting plans that will change the face of the industry in The Gambia, writes Desmond Davies

The Gambia has been a successful tourist destination for Europeans during the last two decades. But the Ministry of Tourism believes that there should now be change in the way the country organises the industry to ensure that it meets the challenges that will arise in the future.

Indeed, the ministry already has to deal with a new phenomenon: that of European paedophiles who would want to tamper with under-aged Gambian children. This was a problem for tourist resorts in Asia until the governments there clamped down on the so-called sex tourists who come, in the main, from the West.

It would appear that with the tightening of the laws regarding deviant sexual relations between Western tourists and Asians, the focus of the perverts has now turned to The Gambia. It is, therefore, not surprising that the Gambian government has published the Tourism Offence Bill to counter the deviant sexual tendencies of Westerners. The Gambian Secretary of State for Tourism, Yankuba Tourav, told West Africa in Banjul that the Bill would become law next month.

Yankuba Tourey - Minister of Tourism

The whole issue of paedophiles preying on Gambians was first mentioned recently in a Belgian magazine, which said that the country was a haven for sex tourism. When the report came out, the director of Human Resources at The Gambia Tourism Authority, Kaliba Senghore, noted: "Tourists should have in mind that Gambians are not cheap and, more( over, are people with good morals and will not encourage vices." But he said that the Belgian magazine report was highly exaggerated. '

This was the same line taken by Touray when he spoke to West Africa "We are investigating the paedophile allegations," he said. "But this man who made the allegations had an argument with his partners here in The Gambia. So we are not so sure whether his statements were made out of anger."

However, this issue was just a small part of a much wider range of challenges that Touray believes the tourism industry in The Gambia will lace in the future. For instance. he noted that the tension in Iraq could lead to problems for the global tourist industry. "This will affect travel and tourism globally." he said. "Experts on the other hand are saying that tourists will be diverted to Africa but I am vet to believe this."

Currently, 120,000 tourists, mainly from Europe, visit The Gambia annually. Most of them arrive on the 18 charter flights that arrive in the country each week. They contribute 16 per cent to the GDP of The Gambia - that is, some D500 million. But Touray, who has becii in charge of the Tourism Ministry for the Last two years, wants to increase the number of tourists visiting his country and to see more "up-market" visitors from abroad.

The aim is to cater for 500,000 tourists by 2012 and to extend the tourist season to 10 months. At present tourists from Europe visit the country between October and May. Touray wants tourists to visit between September and July, with the intervening two months used to refurbish the tourist hotels. Tourav also plans to triple the current 3,000-bed capacity in nine years' time.

But in the end, he wants high-spending visitors to visit the country throughout the year This is why his ministry is planning to construct a 1,000-capacity conference centre, which will be part of one four-star and one five-star hotel complex with 300 beds, plus 55 suites for heads of state. "We hope to bid for the African Union summit in 2006," Touray told West Africa. He added that when heads of state were not using the hotels, the suites would be converted into two rooms each, thus bringing the bed capacity in the hotels in the conference complex to 410. Kuwaiti billionaire Mohamed al-Kharafl, who is interested in investing in the complex in conjunction with the Gambian government, was in the country earlier this month to finalise plans for the $50-million project.

This is all part of the incentives that the government is creating to encourage the construction of more hotels to meet its target of 500,000 tourists in 2012. "As a government. we are not investing directly in the industry," Touray told West Africa. "But we are creating the necessary environment to get the private sector to invest in the tourism industry. \Ve are providing the infrastructure: water, roads and electricity. We are also giving investors a five-year tax holiday and free duty on imported goods related to the industry. Land, too, is virtually free."

In this regard, the government established The Gambia Tourist Authority in 2001 to promote and market the country. It is a semi-autonomous body with a broad-based private sector involvement. The GTA will start its first grading of hotels this \rear.

Apart from subsidies from the government, the GTA also raises funding from a five-pound levy on each tourist entering the country. In a year, the GTA expects to earn £600,000 from this source. At the moment, the money is being collected at the airport because the airlines were sceptical about the whole exercise. But Tourism Secretary of State Tourav says that they have now been convinced that the levy is a good idea and soon it will be included in the price of air tickets,

On the whole, he is confident that the tourist industry in The Gambia will soar to greater heights. "We are introducing a new package for tourism in The Gambia that will promote the country as an all-year-round tourist destination,' he said.

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