Nigeria has a worthy role model in The Gambia if it must succeed in diversifying its economy through tourism.
Despite being one of the smallest countries in Africa with about 2 million people and occupying an area of 10,689 square km, Gambia has a tourism industry that directly contributes 9 percent to the country’s economy.
This is 7.1 percentage points higher than what Africa’s largest economy is able to get from its tourism sector, which directly contributes 1.9 percent to its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Nigeria depends on crude oil export for foreign earnings, accounting for about 90 percent of the country’s foreign exchange receipts, whereas Gambia’s oil is the country’s tourism industry.
Unlike Nigeria’s oil sector which is not labour-intensive, Gambia’s tourism industry contributed more than 7.4 percent to the country’s employment rate in 2017, as against the 1.8 percent of total employment it contributed in Nigeria, data from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) show.
Hamat Bah, The Gambia’s minister of culture and tourism, said the first important aspect of tourism is security and stability. This is because people who are on holiday want to go to secure and safe places.
“We thank God that Gambians believe in and love peace; they cherish the atmosphere they live in and the government is also doing everything possible to preserve it,” Bah told BusinessDay in his office in Banjul, the Gambian capital.
BusinessDay checks show the Gambian tourism industry receives over 100,000 visitors a year. Tourists mainly come from Europe with package tour operators from the UK making up over 50 percent of visitors. The others arrive from Germany, Norway, Sweden and other countries.
Tine Wesdorp, a middle-aged Swedish woman who was on a tour in The Gambia, told BusinessDay in Bakau, a town on the Atlantic coast of Gambia, that the country was her choice of destination because of “a lot of nice things” she heard about the country, adding, “And coming here, I’ve seen the people are very friendly.”
Onne-siere Johanser and her husband, Sveir Johanser, an old couple from Ireland who lodged in Cape Point, a four-star hotel located in the heart of Bakau, affirmed Wesdorp’s submission.
“We like The Gambia because of the weather and its people; they are friendly and the country is safe,” the couple said.
“It’s our 35th holiday in The Gambia and we even have some families we are giving assistance because we see they need help,” they said.
The Gambia’s tourism sector has ripple effects on industries that deal directly with tourists, including hotels, travel agents, airlines and other passenger-transport services, as well as restaurants and leisure firms.
‘Fix It’, a multi-service store located on Kofi Annan Street, a few blocks away from the United Nation’s House, renders services from Bureau de Change to sale of airtime, SIM cards and tour guard services.
“Tourists that come to our country represent the largest number of our customers. During the peak season between October and April, our business records a boom and we get a lot of profit. And even when tourists don’t come, companies and people like you who come for training patronise our business,” a ‘Fix It’ staff on duty told BusinessDay.
“Even the boys on the street don’t have jobs but when they take the tourists around the country, they make money and some of them end up marrying some of the single people that come on tour in the country,” another lady in a shop next to ‘Fix It’ said.
According to the lady who refused to say her name, the money the youths earn from the tourists takes their mind away from illegalities.
“This helps to reduce crime. The boys are happy that at least they earn money and as such they don’t have much reason to commit crime or steal, and that makes the country very safe,” she said.
“Tourists like it here because of the cool weather and also because of the nice people of The Gambia. Despite the fact that some of our people are poor, they are happy and contented with what they have. That is why we are called the ‘Smiling Coast of Africa’,” she added.
Fallou, a tall, dark-complexioned young Gambian man who had the Jamaican dreadlocks on his hair said he hits the streets every day in search of tourists who would like to be shown around.
“When I do this, at the end of the tour they pay me like 500 Gambia Dalasi (N3,651). Sometimes it is less than that or even more. Most times I become very close friends with them and when they want to travel back they give me gifts,” Fallou said.
The Gambian tourism industry is ranked 168th in the world in terms of absolute size, 122nd in long-term growth measured over 10 years, and 38th in relative contribution to other nations’ economies, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council.
The government, in The Gambia’s National Development Plan (GNDP) 2019-2021, said its goal is to make tourism a highly competitive and sustainable industry that is people- and culture centred and which will celebrate the nation’s cultural heritage and contribute to socioeconomic development
“Key interventions will focus on policy reforms in aid of competitiveness; marketing for destination recognition and attractiveness; quality service delivery; enhanced security; product diversity; enhanced community participation and greater linkages with other sectors especially agriculture and natural resources,” the document says.
BusinessDay analysis of the 2018 World Travel & Tourism Council research shows that The Gambia is more determined than Nigeria to grow its tourism sector.
In 2017, Gambia and Nigeria made Travel & Tourism investment which represented 11.9 percent and 7.1 percent of total investments, respectively.
Bah told BusinessDay that all the policies that were initiated towards development of tourism in Nigeria up to 2007 were done under former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration.
“Nigeria has one of the best tourist sites in the world, just that it was distracted by the discovery of crude oil,” Bah said.
Endurance Okafor
