Dr. Ousman Gajigo, Patriotic Progressive Alliance (PPA)
Recently, while using the ferry in Banjul, I noticed a large group of tourists that are staying in Gambian hotels on their way to Senegal to visit the Fathala Game Reserve near Karang. Over the years, I have run into similar groups at the Amdalaye border crossing. Why are tourists based in The Gambia increasingly visiting the Fathala reserve when we have the Abuko Nature Reserve, Sindola, and other attractions here?
This costly economic leakage is substantial yet avoidable with the right tourism strategy. The value of tourism extends beyond tourists staying at hotels and lounging on beaches. After all, most major hotels in The Gambia are foreign-owned, meaning profits from their operations are largely expatriated. A significant portion of tourism’s economic benefits comes from linkages with the local economy through visitors spending outside hotels and the sourcing of local goods by hotels.
Nature parks and cultural sites are major draws for tourists beyond hotels and beaches. They are therefore crucial to ensuring that the economic benefits of the tourism sector extend beyond a small enclave. Unfortunately, the Adama Barrow administration – through both direct actions and inactions – has contributed to conditions where tourism’s economic benefits remain limited.
The neglect of Abuko Nature Reserve began under Yahya Jammeh when Sindola was created. However, the Adama Barrow government has no excuse for continuing this neglect and exacerbating the problem. School visits to the Nature Reserve, once quite common, are now few and far between.
The government could have taken numerous steps in 2017 to safeguard the wildlife, livestock, and facilities at Sindola Safari Lodge. Unfortunately, this was not done. As a result, much of the wildlife cannot be accounted for. Some may have even crossed the border into Casamance. The facilities at the eco-lodge have been deteriorating.
Whatever Sindola Safari Park’s provenance, it should now be considered a national resource. There was an opportunity to safeguard its assets and place it under proper management since 2017. This would have served as a tourist attraction to complement other nature reserves in the country and undoubtedly provided economic opportunities for communities in that region.
Instead, we had Hamat Bah-led Ministry of Tourism wasting resources and making empty promises about constructing new eco-lodges. Those resources could have been better spent upgrading Sindola – at only a fraction of the cost of constructing a new facility. Instead, a new avenue for corruption was opened through the contracting process.
The neglect of Abuko Nature Reserve and Sindola is part of a larger problem: the absence of a viable strategy for the tourism sector. Consider the chimpanzees on Baboon Island in CRR. The Tourism Board has not adequately raised awareness of their presence among Gambians, let alone foreigners. Proper investments to make Kuntaur more accessible and visitor-friendly have been neglected.
To make the tourism sector contribute significantly to The Gambian economy, we need competent leadership to properly manage it, starting from the very top. The leadership must understand that the tourism industry also needs a strong agricultural sector. After all, food and beverage (F&B) is one of the most important operating expenses of hotels and its needs a vibrant local horticultural sector for the hotel industry to have an inclusive development. This is one of the key avenues through which the tourism sector can have a development effect far from the beach. And yet, the necessary integration at the policy level between tourism and agriculture does not even feature in this administration.
If you find yourself wandering the streets of Senegambia today wondering why the tourist season doesn’t feel like what it used to be, your senses are not deceiving you. The tourism sector in The Gambia today is in a moribund state. The government seems focused on tourist arrivals as a metric, but there is far more to the sector’s health than that.
