The Gambian Tourist Value Chain and Prospects for Pro-Poor Tourism

Tourism in The Gambia: International ‘Best Practice’ in Poverty Reduction & Pro-Poor Growth Through Tourism
Draft Report (Friday 22 nd December 2006)
6 Expand the Tourism Sector
Expanding the tourism sector will increase the demand for goods and services provided by
everyone engaging directly or indirectly with the tourism value chain in The Gambia,
including the poor. As described in Sections 4 and 5, the poor are already accessing a
significant slice of the tourism value chain and, with targeted interventions, the size of this
slice could increase significantly.
In this section some of the key obstacles to the growth of tourism in The Gambia will be
outlined – together with some suggestions as to how to overcome them.
Problems are examined from two perspectives, that of the international travel industry
looking at The Gambia from overseas and the perspective from stakeholders within the
destination.
From an industry perspective, major constraints include:
• Malaria;
• Poor and unreliable infrastructure;
• Lack of choice in accommodation; and
• Lack of marketing support.
From a destination perspective, the main constraints include:
• Seasonality of demand;
• Accessibility;
• Inadequate infrastructure;
• Lack of marketing and promotional support;
• Lack of training; and
• Inadequate governance.
These perceived obstacles to tourism growth will be examined in turn – together with
practical strategies to overcome them.
6.1 Malaria
Whilst the SWOT analysis in the Tourism Strategy of 2002 made no mention of malaria, the
dominant international tour operator for The Gambia cited this as the largest single risk
facing the destination. Significantly, this operator is diversifying destinations to include
malaria-free Cape Verde. There is some evidence that this malaria might be increasing for
two reasons.
First, international tour operators will be sending more flights during the 2006/07 winter
season than in the past. For the 26 week winter season, there will be ten flights a week
from the UK - equating to 50,000 arrivals just from the UK this winter. In the absence of
effective marketing initiative, a likely consequence of an increase in the supply of airline
seats is heavy discounting by charter companies to fill seats and consequent late bookings.
Cheap late bookings carry a disproportionate risk of malaria because tourists may not have
time - or be inclined - to spend £50 on the malaria prophylactics on a discounted holiday
package costing £350.
Second, as The Gambia successfully develops into a year-round destination, this will
inevitably result in more tourists arriving during the higher malaria-risk summer rainy
season.
42