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

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Tourism in The Gambia: International ‘Best Practice’ in Poverty Reduction & Pro-Poor Growth Through Tourism Draft Report (Friday 22 nd December 2006) At present, marketing activities are firmly in the domain of international tour operators, the welcome of the Gambian people and meteorology. Visitor surveys indicate that over half of visitors had come to know about The Gambia through a travel or tour firm brochure and most of the rest on the basis of personnel recommendations by friends or family – most frequently on the basis of the friendliness of the people and the weather. As Figure 17 shows, the more traditional approaches to destination marketing, such as advertisements and exhibitions are ineffective at marketing destinations, as most tourists heard of the Gambia, either through travel brochures or word of mouth. One-third of the visitors interviewed are repeaters and 15% had visited The Gambia four or more times 36 . Table 12: 1 South Africa 2 Kenya 3 Tanzania 4 Botswana 5 Namibia 6 Zambia 7 Zimbabwe 8 Mozambique 9 Uganda 10 Ghana 11 Senegal 12 Rwanda 13 Gambia 14 Ethiopia Source: Note: The low profile of The Gambia to Specialist African Tour Operators in Europe Global Development Solutions (2006) Value Chain Analysis for the Tourism Sector in Ethiopia Based upon a survey of 360 specialist African tour operators in Europe assessing how many had regular itineraries to different Sub-Saharan countries. Figure 17: Visitor response to ‘How did you come to know about Gambia?’ 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Travel Firm Brochure Friends Internet Adverts Gambia Tourist Offices Exhibitions e: EMG (2005) The Gambia Tourism Master Plan Technical Report No.3 Visitor Survey at Banjul Airport Sourc The importance of the internet as a marketing tool is rising rapidly. The WTO estimates that 30% of long-haul holidays worldwide are now booked by the internet 37 . Of more relevance to The Gambia is that in the dominant source market, the UK, over half of the holidays booked in 2005 were over the internet. 38 36 EMG (2005) The Gambia Tourism Development Master Plan Technical Report No.3 Visitor Survey at Banjul Airport 37 WTO (2005) Highlights of 2005 report. 38 Business Solutions (2006) Analysis of the Ethiopian Tourism Value Chain 48
Tourism in The Gambia: International ‘Best Practice’ in Poverty Reduction & Pro-Poor Growth Through Tourism Draft Report (Friday 22 nd December 2006) There can be little doubt that this destination marketing function falls under the mandate of GTA. The s.14 of the GTA Act of 2001 specifies that the ‘Primary function of the Authority is to market The Gambia as an attractive tourist destination through the use of appropriate promotional and marketing activities, and in support of that function, the Authority shall - …..(g) utilise or adopt every legitimate means to develop, promote and publicise The Gambia as a tourist attraction’ 39 . So, why the failure to market the destination when this is clearly in the self-interest of The Gambia? Two factors might offer an explanation. First, a lack of resources in one of the poorest countries in the world in the midst of a process of improving public finances, could explain the lack of attention to destination marketing. However, there are reasons to question this justification. Tourists, the tourist industry or concessionary development finance could be used to finance a marketing campaign without the need for any government funding for this purpose. • £5 levied by GTA on each charter tourist on arrival was intended to support tourism and should be generating about £0.5m per year on the basis of the recent arrival figures is more than enough to finance an effective marketing campaign. It is understood that these funds are currently not ‘earmarked’ for tourism and are therefore being diverted into the general government fiscus; • The Gambian tourism industry is currently providing significant funds to the GTA through licences and various other levies (in 2004, only 14% of the GTA’s annual income of €1.8 million was from government subvention). A significant proportion of these nongovernmental funds could be applied for the primary purpose of the Authority, which is marketing; and • GTA is the lead partner in a European Union PRO-INVEST funded project ‘Sustainable tourism business promotion in West Africa 2006-2007’ with donor funding of €249,738 (plus €123 990 counterpart funding) to promote sustainable tourism in the region 40 . Section 60 of the GTA Act makes provision for a Tourism Development Fund which would be an appropriate institutional vehicle to collect these revenues (and potentially others) to, with the approval of the Board, spend on destination marketing. A second possible explanation for the perceived lack of destination marketing is that real progress is not being acknowledged. There is some evidence to support this - as some significant marketing initiatives have recently taken place. For instance, the: • GTA recently produced two very high quality promotional brochures - The Gambia Visitors Guide and the brochure for the 8 th International Roots Festival, held in June 2006; and • Government recently financed an advertisement on CNN which cost US$220,000 for an eight week run. What these examples of recent marketing activity do illustrate is the importance of the GTA working closely with marketing specialists. The Visitor Guide is a high quality document but is of a size that is difficult to distribute in the post. The CNN advertisement is professionally produced, but was probably not the most efficient or effective way of reaching the key initial target – the travel industry - in actual or potential source markets. CNN advertisements were also at the centre of a notably unsuccessful tourism marketing campaign in Uganda recently. 39 The Gambia Tourism Authority Act, 2001 40 European Union (2006) Sustainable Tourism Business Promotion in West Africa 2006-2007 A European Union PRO-INVEST Funded Project: Grant Application Document 49
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