Integrating Tourism to the Productive Sectors in the Gambia

COMPETITIVENESS THROUGH PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP: SUCCESSES AND LESSONS LEARNED

Integrating Tourism to the Productive Sectors in The Gambia

A COUNTRY PAPER CONTRIBUTED BY

THE GAMBIAN STRATEGY TEAM

Montreux – September 2004

TOURISM AND THE GLOBAL TREND

Tourism is one of the leading industries in the world in terms of employment generation and promotion of linkages with other sectors of a country’s economy. The tourism industry generates an estimated 11 per cent of Global Domestic Product, employing 200 million persons (WTO 2001). It has huge potential for the promotion of investment and infrastructural developments. 940 million persons are consumers of the product annually (WTO 2000). This figure is expected to double by the year 2020 according to predictions by the World Tourism and Travel Council in 2001. In the year 2000 alone, the tourism product provided 550 billion dollars of profit (WTO 2000). According to international tourist statistics, Africa has only 4 per cent of the share of total international tourist arrivals. In many African countries, extensive public and private investments are being made to develop the tourism sector. According to the World Tourism Organisation world international tourism receipts in 2000 were $475.8 billion while Africa’s share was $10.7 billion Europe and America combined received $367.9 billion (WTO database August 2001).

Two billion people in the world live on less than one dollar per day. (UNDP HDR, 1997) 340 million Africans are considered to be living in abject poverty (NEPAD 2001). In The Gambia, according to the participatory poverty assessment survey conducted in 1999/2000, most rural communities attributed an increase in poverty levels to low crop yields because of soil infertility, lack of financial inputs and equipment. In the urban areas, poverty is mostly attributed to unemployment (The Gambia Human Development Report 2001). Due to the relatively low level of crop yield in agriculture and unemployment the poor constitute 55 per cent of households and 69 per cent of the population. 40 per cent of households in the greater Banjul area; 46 per cent in other urban areas and 70 per cent in the rural areas are below the overall poverty line. 37 per cent of the population are destitute. 82 per cent of them live in the rural area. It is evident that if any advancement in the lives of the poor is to be made in the 21st century, pro-poor and anti poverty strategies must be evolved in all sectors of human development so as to wage an effective and sustainable campaign to reduce poverty.

Various strategies have been adopted to deal with economies of countries, which depend mainly on primary products and less on value added manufactured goods for generation of foreign exchange and enhancement of employment and income. The inherent structural imbalances which have led to poverty and indebtedness in most African countries like The Gambia, need to be addressed.

The IMF has intervened in many countries to provide enhanced structural adjustment facilities, to enable them to cope with balance of payment problems, due to an increase in the cost of imported goods and the depreciation in earnings from primary products. However, despite the cooperation with the World Bank, poverty level continues to escalate. This has led to the movement from structural adjustment facilities to the introduction of a poverty reduction facility to address the social dimension of adjustment.

It is a widely held view that African countries must engage in structural adjustment and improve their political environment in order to attract foreign direct investment. Reviving trade is considered by many African countries as integral or imperative to Africa’s economic turn around, as well as the promotion of fair trading practice without which the revival of trade is inconceivable. Therefore, all those who are interested in Africa’s economic development and the eradication of poverty must identify and weigh the potential of all sectors in the economies of our respective countries and harness them to combat poverty and marginalisation. . In The Gambia, it is indicated that tourism contributes between 6.25 per cent GDP (Budget Speech 2000) and 18 per cent of GDP (Presidential Address, State Opening of National Assembly, 1999 legislative year) and that it provides 10,000 people with jobs. Taking into consideration that the formal sector, comprising the government, the parastatals and private companies, employs only 11 per cent of the labour force (Gambia HDR 2001) and that the government is the major employer, tourism would account for one fifth of the labour force in the formal sector. This sector has potential for employment generation, macroeconomic development and can enhance poverty alleviation. How to develop the sector has been a major preoccupation. Many reports have been written on strategy or policy for tourism

development as well as its economic, social, cultural and environmental or ecological impact. Surveys have been conducted with the sponsorship of Department for International Development (DFID). What is absent is the summation of all the known and relevant findings into a holistic framework, which would enable us to know how tourism has benefited or impacted negatively on the country and its people. Tourism offers immense possibilities to transfer wealth from north to the south and from the rich to the poor through fair trade and pro-poor initiatives. However, despite this assumption it is starkly evident that the gap between North and South and the rich and poor is increasing.

THE EVOLUTION OF TOURISM AND THE GAMBIAN ECONOMY

Tourism was identified as a potential source of resources to foster development as the colonialists prepared to hand over the government to indigenes during last phase of the colonial period.

Tourism began to evolve as a sector for socio-economic development in 1965 when 300 tourists visited The Gambia (Tourism statistics, 1974). A Swedish company Vingressor/Club 33 initiated the venture. They marketed The Gambia as an exotic sun and beach resort where rich Swedes could spend the European winter months to safeguard themselves from the cold. The months of October to April were considered to be appropriate for tourism. By 1966/67 the tourist arrivals increased by 100 per cent. The government of The Gambia, which relied mainly on the groundnut crop to earn foreign exchange, saw the need to exploit the foreign exchange earning capacity of the tourism sector. Hence by 1970, the government designated 1000 metres of the beach stretching from Kololi to Kartong as the Tourism Development area. Hotel beds increased from 162 in 1965/66 to 300 beds in 1970/71. The number of visitors increased from 300 tourists in 1965/1966 to 2601 visitors in 1970/71. Compared to the projection of 150,000 tourists a year under the national policy for tourism developments in 1995, 2601 tourists would appear like a rain drop in the ocean. However, what is of significance is that the Gambia government had identified tourism as a sector for the diversification of the economy and had started to engage in limited sectoral planning through the allocation of an area for tourism development.

The small private sector and narrow tax base did not permit for much investment in the infrastructural development for tourism without relying on World Bank loans. The World Bank had established, the International Development Association (IDA) to provide credit to countries, which could not rely on the open market for bank loans. Its relatively concessionary loans enabled the government to launch an infrastructure and tourism development project in 1972 (D.J. Jeffries Associates, 1992). UNDP and IDA assistance provided for the building of a road network linking the hotels, the airport and the main urban centres in 1972. The limited foreign direct investment left many countries like The Gambia with little option other than to rely on the public sector to acquire loans to promote infrastructural development. From 1972 to 1975 the level of public investments in the economy increased. The government developed its first five -year development plan 1975/76 to 1980/81 where public investment doubled the amount that was initially budgeted. Priorities were given to agriculture, public utilities, transports and communications sectors. 144 million dalasis were projected to finance the first five-year development plan. The final expenditure amounted to 392.3 million dalasis.

Table One: First Five Year development Plan 1975/6-1980/1: Allocation of funding to different sectors

Sector Amount in Dalasi (millions) Agriculture 57.4 Transport and Communication 150 Industry 3.9 Housing 83 Public utilities 41 Education 32.1 Tourism 16.8 Health 7.7

The small investments in agriculture and industry compared to the service sector left a narrow tax base and a small processing base. This created a high dependence on the export of one crop, groundnut which coupled with a small industrial base, gave rise to high dependence on imports and loans. The imbalance, due to the excessive investment in services, without a proportional growth of the productive base became apparent by the end of the plan. .

Since the inception of the sector, the National Tourism Development Strategy had largely concentrated on the need to increase the volume of arrivals irrespective of the spending patterns of package tourists. Package tours involving chartered flights constitute the mainstay of the tourism industry in The Gambia. Most of the immediate costs on the tourist go to pay for airfare and hotel accommodation, which is paid for prior to leaving their home country. When tourism started to expand in the 1970s and 1980s, the number of tourists visiting The Gambia could not be compared with a destination like Bermuda which could attract 339,782 visitors in 1972. The 2601 tourists who visited The Gambia in 197I did not need many hotels. The country was not a major destination. Therefore, it did not attract much foreign direct investment. Tourism was mainly a government enterprise. There were few hotels. They did not have to depend on tour operators to get customers. Government took interest in investing in the building of hotels either by itself or in partnership with foreign investors. This is what gave rise to the expansion of hotels. The government had to give tax holidays to investors, which reduced its income earning capacity from taxation. The end of the 1970-decade witnessed the beginning of the decline of the economy. The country became more and more indebted. External obligations such as debt service charges, balance of payment requirements to finance imports and payment of contribution to international organisations undermined the investment capacity of the government. In the 80s, government moved further towards divestiture from the hotels on a case-by-case basis. Lacking the promotional strategies of the Bahamas and the Bermudas, the Government left marketing activities mainly in the hands of tour operators.

BEST PRACTICE STORY- IMPROVING ACCESS OF THE INFORMAL SECTOR TO THE TOURISM INDUSTRY.

As earlier indicated, tourism was initially designed to promote Foreign Direct Investment, foreign exchange earnings, infrastructural development, revenue and employment generations. Leisure Tourism however, had limited linkage with the productive base of the local economy thus encouraging leakages and exclusion of the vast majority of the population from the acquisition of benefits from the tourism industry. This reality is what gave rise to a UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID) funded initiative to improve the linkages between the informal sector and the formal sector.

This 20 month project ran from August 2000 to March 2002 and worked with the Association of Small Scale Enterprises in Tourism (ASSET) on a series of participative surveys to collect information about the perceptions of the tourists, tour operators, hoteliers and inbound operators (or ground handlers). Each of the informal sector groups participated in the research phase and identified what they saw as the significant barriers to their participation in the industry and reported on their sales during the peak season (the first quarter) of 2001.

An agenda for action was identified for each informal sector group, based on their understanding of the barriers that needed to be overcome in order that they could increase their sales and income. Discussions were held with government and the formal sector about what they could contribute to improving market access and the performance of the informal sector composed largely of poor producers.

THE INFORMAL SECTOR, ASSET

By informal sector is meant all those individuals and micro enterprises, which engage with tourists and the tourism industry, but are not members of the Gambian Hotel Association or the Ground Handlers and Equipment Hirers Association. It was established in April 2000, bringing together some 40 small and micro enterprises. These include craft market vendors,

tourist taxi drivers, official tourist guides, juice pressers and fruit sellers as well as a number of small hotels, guesthouses and ground tour operators. It functions as a trade association for the SMMEs in the informal sector.

THE FORMAL SECTOR

The formal sector in The Gambia is composed of the hotels represented by the Gambia Hotel Association (GHA) and the Ground Handlers and Equipment Hirers Association (GHEHA), which is composed of the inbound tour operators who have contracts with the originating market operators who constitute the third group within the formal sector. The UK operators, which send tourists to The Gambia, include The Gambia Experience (operating year round with a substantial charter programme), TUI/Thomson, First Choice, Thomas Cook, Panorama, Odyssey and My Travel.

THE GAMBIA TOURISM AUTHORITY

The formation of the non-state actor led Gambia Tourism Authority (GTA) was authorised by an Act of The national Assembly in July, 2001, as a public enterprise to develop, regulate and promote the tourism industry in The Gambia. The GTA became operational in November 2001.

THE PROCESS

One of the major issues in 2000, preventing positive dialogue and change, was the conflict and distrust between the different sectors of the tourism industry. The formal and informal sectors blamed each other for the poor performance of the industry, and so did informal sector groups among themselves. The down turn in visitor arrivals in the first quarter of 2000 increased the levels of conflict as each group came under pressure. In the initial stage of the TCF project, each of the individual groups was encouraged to talk openly about their problems and to evolve and agree sets of practical initiatives that could be taken to improve their market position. There was so much disagreement about the issues associated with sustainable tourism in The Gambia that it was necessary to identify what the actual situation was for each sector of the industry through an extended process of stakeholder consultation. This was backed by survey research of the earnings of the informal sector and the barriers, which they encountered, on the supply side. In order to understand the demand side, a survey of tourists was undertaken and the views of the formal sector about the services were solicited.

A series of workshops was held, involving each of the informal sector groups individually, the informal sector as a whole, and then the informal and formal sectors together. An agenda for action was agreed. The consultation and workshopping processes were essential in order to build a shared understanding of the challenges faced by The Gambia, and to build support for a shared vision and an agreed programme of action to achieve it. One of the most important pieces of learning in this process was that The Gambia faces intense competition from other sun, sand and sea destinations and the Gambians in the industry need to work together to attract tourists there – rather than competing with each other.

BUILDING CONSENSUS

In Phase 1 (August 2000 to May 2001) the main emphasis was on clarifying the issues and problems which needed to be addressed in order to improve the situation of the informal sector in The Gambia, and to develop a consensus about what could and should be done. At a series of open workshops in May 2001 a consensus was developed about what needed to be done in order to improve tourism in The Gambia and to improve the involvement of the informal sector in the industry. At the May workshops a work programme was agreed in an open session with participation by the formal and informal sectors. This was formally agreed by the project Steering Group, and has subsequently been implemented.

As part of the consensus building process, key staff from tour operators based in the UK and in The Gambia were interviewed about their perceptions of the difficulties confronting tourism in and in particular about the strengths and weaknesses of the informal sector. Similar interviews were conducted with ground handlers, formal sector trade associations and with government. The earnings and the products of the informal sector groups in both the Senegambia and Kotu beach areas – the two main tourist centres – were surveyed. A representative sample of tourists was surveyed in order to determine the critical consumer perception of the product, and in particular of the importance of the informal sector to the holiday experience.

Results of the research were reported providing the opportunity to discuss the implications of the survey for each group. Each informal sector group was able to explore the views of their sector as expressed by other informal groups, the formal sector and tourists. Each informal sector group was invited to come along to the informal sector workshop prepared to discuss what their group could contribute to the necessary process of change and what they felt they needed from the others and from the formal sector.

It was essential to achieve consensus about the changes that needed to be made in order to maximise the impact of the project and to achieve pro-poor growth.

IMPLEMENTAION

An implementation work programme to address the issues identified in the first phase of the project was agreed during the May workshops in open session with both the formal and informal sectors represented . A detailed work plan was drawn up for each sub-section of the informal sector and a number of meetings were agreed to take place between informal groups and informal sectors to resolve differences. Martin Brackenbury from the Federation of Tour Operators represented the UK originating market operators at the multi-stakeholder workshop and in the project steering group, which subsequently agreed the work programme.

An ‘appreciative inquiry’ approach was used to develop the codes of conduct for each informal sector group. This involved visioning change, identifying the steps necessary to achieve it, building co-operation and self-respect. It was this approach, which enabled the creation of support for the Codes of Conduct, which emerged from the individual sub-sector workshops.

Further surveys were undertaken in February and March 2002 to provide data on the results of the project, follow up surveys were done of tourists and of the earnings of each of the informal sector groups the project worked with.

SUCCESSES ACHIEVED

Fruit Sellers

There are a large number of fruit sellers, 26-all female-- working on Kotu Beach. They used to sell to tourists by hawking their baskets of fruit on the beach, walking back and forth approaching tourists all day. The tourists felt hassled and some felt intimidated by the constant approaches to buy fruit and the women felt demeaned as they traipsed back and forth on the beach looking for business.

A Code of Conduct was developed with the fruit sellers, which covered their relationships with each other, the hotels and the tourists. They now identify whom each customer ‘belongs to’ and no longer quarrel over business. Advertising via the ‘What’s On’ boards in some hotels was successful.

The official registration of their society, following the creation of the code of conduct, meant that they were trusted enough to obtain a loan, used for buying produce. The fruit sellers also now put a small amount of money into a communal fund.

A new stall, from which the women now sell their fruit, was constructed as a result of the Tourism Challenge Fund initiative. The stall was built with assistance from the Bungalow Beach Hotel (which provided paint) and the Kombo Beach Hotel (which provided some cash, labour and materials). The 26 stallholders each contributed to the costs. The TCF project employed an artist to ensure a high quality image for the stall.

Poverty Impact

The fruit sellers estimate that their incomes have increased by 50-60% as a result of the changes in the way that they conduct their business and improved access to the tourists. The stall has changed the nature of the relationship between the women and the tourists; they no longer hawk and the women have considerably more dignity selling from behind their stall. The change in the atmosphere on the beach has also assisted other informal sector poor producers, in particular the craft vendors at Kotu Beach

Juice Pressers

At workshops held in August 2001 the juice pressers created the code of conduct and regulations for the association, which is now registered officially with the government. The registration of the organisation has provided the association with direct access to government tourism officials and has allowed the association’s committee to regulate membership. No new members are permitted where an area is considered full and any member who does not abide by the code of conduct can be suspended or expelled. This power has been used a few times where members quarrelled over business or were felt to be hassling tourists. Fixed prices for juice have been introduced and are displayed on menus on each of the stalls, which have the function of badging the fruit pressers this, has increased the juice sellers’ incomes. The fixed prices work despite seasonal changes in fruit prices.

Advertising on the ‘What’s On’ Boards in the local Bungalow and Kombo Beach Hotels and the positive changes in the atmosphere on the beach resulted in significant increases in the earnings of the juice pressers

Poverty Impact

Juice presser earnings at Kotu Beach 2001/2

2001 2002 Change Mean daily turnover 66.7 148 132% Mean daily surplus 47.5 105 128% Weekly Income Dalasis 333 736 121% Source: TCF surveys. These reflect only peak season earnings

Problems remain: the juice pressers feel that the tour operators tell their guests not to buy juice as they say that the sellers do not wash glasses properly. This is strongly denied and juice sellers would like tour operators to visit and see the high standards of hygiene employed. Members of the association took part in a food handling/hygiene course provided by the government and have current food hygiene certificates. However, the juice pressers say that a significant impediment to this business is their lack of access to clean water and to sanitation facilities for the vendors. Tour operators in The Gambia would like to see more fresh juice, rather than canned and bottled juices, in the hotels particularly at breakfast, provided that the hotels can be assured that the juice has been hygienically produced.

Licensed Guides

Official tourist guides are local guides who are licensed by the GTA and who offer local trips (e.g. to markets etc.) as well as longer excursions. A large group of guides operates outside the Senegambia Hotel in one of the main tourist areas. Other smaller groups operate outside a number of hotels in the Kotu beach area – the other main tourist district. The official tourist guides run some of their trips using tourist taxis – these are taxis which have been

licensed for tourist use on the basis of meeting certain standards that are not necessarily met by the regular (‘bush’) taxis. There has always been a certain degree of concern amongst tour operators about the safety of the official guides, as well as an issue about competition over excursions since the guides offer many of the same excursions as the tour operators at a lower price.

The licensed guides have benefited from the ‘What’s On’ boards, and there has been some reduction in conflict between the guides, taxi drivers and the formal sector. They have drawn up and adopted Codes of Conduct, which have made a difference to the sense of collective responsibility amongst the guides. At Palma Rima, where there is a serious problem with hassling around the hotel, licensed guides have introduced their own logbook, which records who has worked and where they took their clients. They also record the level of customer satisfaction by asking clients to write in the log when they return. They suspend guides for minor infringements of their Code and have taken the uniform from one guide who they felt had been complicit in one of their clients being robbed in the market. GTA is determined to back the Guides when they take this kind of action and to withdraw the licenses of offending guides. The licensed guides at Kotu Beach were getting significantly more work in 2002, while at Senegambia the increase in earnings was a result of the increase in the average income per trip.

Increase in licensed guide earnings at Senegambia and Kotu Beach

Senegambia 2001 2002 Change Mean income per trip D144 (8.8 USD) D174 (10USD) p 20.8% Trips per week 2.38 2.49 p 4.6% Mean weekly income D345 (21.1 USD) D408 (24USD) p 18.2% Kotu Beach Mean income per trip D93 (5.7 USD) D94.2 (5.5USD) p 1.3% Trips per week 3.06 4.2 p 37.25% Mean weekly income D285 (17.4 USD) D380 (22USD) p 33.33% Source: TCF surveys. These reflect only peak season earnings.

The Craft Markets

The Tourism Challenge Fund project in The Gambia worked with two craft markets, Kotu Beach and the Senegambia (Kololi Beach) in quite different situations. However, there are some general lessons, which have been learned from the experience of seeking to improve livelihoods in the markets.

In the implementation phase of the TCF initiative the two craft markets made significant changes in order to increase the earnings of the craft workers:

1. Codes of Conduct governing the way the traders do business in the market were successfully introduced and there was, as a result, much less hassling and a significantly improved atmosphere. The code of conduct worked well, hassling stopped and more tourists came, repeat visitors commented on the improvement. The fact that the Senegambia won the Best Market category in the new National Tourism Awards in 2002 enabled the strong reinforcement of the benefits of operating a hassle free market. 2. The Body Shop workshops and individual sessions held with the craft workers resulted in some product diversification, improved labelling and merchandising skills. However, the craft workers felt that they needed far more support to make the changes and to develop new products. Specialisation has become a market buzzword but many stallholders need further support to develop the idea. 3. The free market days, where on a roster craft stallholders are invited in to the hotels to make sales, were extended to hotels at Kotu Beach and contributed significantly to increased earnings.

4. Stall holders recognised that they made more sales when they were producing on the stalls, tourists buy more from crafts people when they see them making goods and this also encourages the commissioning of craft items. These changes contributed to increased sales.

5. Limited efforts with labeling and small interpretation panels about the craft products, demonstrating the cultural background and often prolonged production process also contributed to increased sales.

6. ASSET has developed a new product: gift baskets, which are composed of a range of craft and produce (soap/beeswax/honey) for sale through markets stalls and supermarkets and at the airport.

Earnings comparison for Kotu Beach Craft Market 2001/2

2001 Mean 2002 Mean Sales 96.5 335.3 Cost of Goods 55.3 209.4 Commission Payments 1.3 Income Dalasi 41.2 122.8 Income USD 2.5 6.46 Source: TCF surveys.

At Kotu beach there was increased awareness of the fact that they do hassle tourists too aggressively, the proportion of stallholders who asserted that there was too much hassle in the market increased from 27% to 90%. The traders at Kotu Beach have not been so successful as at Senegambia in controlling their own behaviour, but there is heightened awareness of the problem and they have made further progress since February 2002. The proportion of the day when someone was producing craft on the stall increased significantly. The number of stalls with craftwork being done on the stall for more than 50% of the time increased from 6 to 16 out of a total of 46.

The Senegambia Craft Market now has a large sign at the entrance declaring it hassle free. Between the two surveys the number of market stallholders who felt that there was too much hassling of tourists dropped from 85% to 15% the Code of Conduct and the empowerment of the traders that this fostered has achieved a great deal. There has been a marked fall in the number of stallholders who feel that tourists bargain too aggressively from to 96% to 66%. The level of aggression in the market has dropped significantly.

The proportion of the day when someone was producing craft on the stall increased significantly. The number of stalls with craftwork being done on the stall for more than 50% of the time increased from 52 to 86 out of a total of 150. There was no evidence of any increase in the employment of people in any workshop associated with the market stalls, however, there were 19 additional people working as assistants on stalls in the market in 2002 compared with 2001. Of these 19 new jobs, 12 (63%) were given to relatives. The average earnings per stall, in peak season, doubled in the year.

Poverty Impact

Earnings comparison for Kotu Beach Craft Market 2001/2

2001 Mean 2002 Mean Sales 96.5 335.3 Cost of Goods 55.3 209.4 Commission Payments 1.3 Income Dalasi 41.2 122.8 Income USD 2.5 6.46 Source: TCF surveys.

Earnings comparison for Senegambia (Kololi Beach) craft market 2001/2

2001 Mean 2002 Mean Sales 162.13 316.92 Cost of Goods 97.94 194.79 Commission Payments 2.01 Income Dalasi 162.13 316.92 Income USD 9.9 16.68 Source: TCF surveys.

CREATION OF THE RESPONSIBLE TOURISM PARTNERSHIP.

In April 2002 a final meeting of the Tourism Challenge Fund Project Steering Group was convened to which the new GTA and representatives of the overseas tour operators were invited along with Gambia Hotel Association, Tourism and travel Association Of The Gambia, ASSET, the government represented by GTA and four representatives of the foreign tour operators.

The group decided to continue the work started during the Department For International Development (Dfid) project and to form a Responsible Tourism Partnership. Its aims are to continue to develop the relationship between the formal and informal sectors in order to continue to resolve conflicts and define operational relationships; to look at issues of responsibility and the sustainability of the tourism industry; and to consult, review, implement (where given the mandate to do so) and generally help the GTA in its drive to regulate and improve the tourism industry.

BUILDING PARTNERSHIP WITH UK OUTBOUND TOUR OPERATORS

The UK Sustainable Tourism Initiative (STI) is a joint initiative of the UK Government, UK Tour Operators and Tourism NGOs. The objective of the STI is to enhance the sustainability of the UK outbound industry and to build the foundation for a continual process of improvement.

In the Gambia the STI is working with the Responsible Tourism Partnership to bring UK Tour Operators, the Gambia Tourism Authority and Local suppliers of tourism services to identify areas of mutual concern and to develop and action plan for implementing joint activities to ensure that tourism is developed in a responsible and sustainable manner.

So far funds were secured through the travel foundation created by the STI to identify a number of areas in which tour operators and local suppliers can work together to create mutual benefit:

Improving and increasing the information that is available to tourists prior to their arrival and during Welcome Meetings especially as it relates to informal sector services.

NEW DEVELOPMENTS:

‘GAMBIA IS GOOD’ (GiG) PROJECT

GIG – Gambia is Good

•Is a Horticultural Marketing Company •In partnership with Haygrove (UK company that supply supermarkets with fresh produce) •Aim is to create sustainable and profitable company that supplies fresh vegetables and fruit to hotels and supermarkets. •Ultimate aim is to set-up a wholesale market for produce and possibly export markets. •Funded by UK Gvt (Business Linkage Challenge Fund), Haygrove and CU. What are the objectives?

• Create a vibrant Gambian fresh produce market • Reduce imports of fresh produce • Demonstrate best practice at garden level

How does GiG manage its profits?

The project is pro-poor focused, with profits being shared; ¨ 40% to the gardeners ¨ 40% project reinvestment ¨ 10% local community development programme

References:

Adama Bah & Harold Goodwin: Improving Access for The Informal Sector to Tourism In The Gambia (20030. Adama Bah, Sheena Carlisle, Sheikh Tijan Nyang and Halifa Sallah: Problems and Benefits of Tourism In The Gambia (2003). Adama Bah, Harold Goodwin, D. Roe: Project Report on Sustainable Tourism Initiative engagement with the Responsible Tourism Partnership (2002).