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The Smiling Coast of Africa

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The Smiling Coast of Africa © Sunset in Kotu, The Gambia. Taken by the author on April 8, 2017 The Smiling Coast of Africa Is the smile more than a façade in The New Gambia? Martijn van Dongen Master Thesis Human Geography: Conflicts, Territories & Identities School of Management i Radboud University Nijmegen 28-06-2018 [Page intentionally left blank] The Smiling Coast of Africa Is the smile more than a façade in The New Gambia? Martijn van Dongen Master Thesis S4325273 Human Geography: Conflicts, Territories & Identities School of Management Radboud University Nijmegen 28-06-2018 Supervised by: Bert Bomert Word count: 41.542 [Page intentionally left blank] Foreword Dear reader, On April 3rd, 2017, I landed in Banjul, The Gambia. On that day I began three months of fieldwork that culminated in the thesis that is now before you. The fieldwork challenged me: it put me in situations I had never been in before and had no idea how to handle. But I managed, thanks to those that supported me. I could tell you much about myself in this foreword. About my fascination with the world abroad and my academic interests in inequality and development. But space is far too limited, and there are many people that I must thank for making this thesis possible. Firstly, I thank Fatou, mister Yabo and the rest of the TANGO organization for their hospitality and helpfulness. They received me and my two peers upon arrival, showed us around during the first week and even let us join with the official election observation mission during the parliamentary elections in The Gambia on April 6. They helped us find our internships and provided us with a place to live. Next, Yadicon deserves a special mention, for she offered me an internship at her NGO FAWEGAM. Thank you to all colleagues at FAWEGAM for your hospitality, sage advice and the opportunities you gave me to learn. Thank you Yadicon, Saffiatou, Martin, Ousman, Olli, Sainabou, Joanna and Sali. Also for the good times, laughter and amazing food. Because I have promised my fifteen respondents anonymity, I cannot give them the full praise they deserve. However I will still say thanks to all of them, for their helpful answers without which this thesis would not have been possible. I thank them also for their openness and their courage to share personal stories about corruption, doubts and poverty. I shared my time in The Gambia with three peers who also travelled from the Netherlands to The Gambia for their master theses. Three of us shared a home in Kanifing, while the fourth lived in Brikama. The many conversations we shared were a source of inspiration and motivation. They also provided a live peer review and helped me improve my interviewing and put my thoughts in order. Thank you Hannah, Remco and Veerle. Last, but most certainly not least, two members of CICAM deserve my thanks. Despite no longer working at the Radboud University, Lotje de Vries was an invaluable component of this thesis, because it was her invitation and her connections that allowed me to go to The Gambia in the first place. Secondly, to my supervisor Bert Bomert: thank you for your compassion, patience, directions, advice and keen eye. While I tested your patience with months of absence, your responses were always rapid, clear and enlightening. Without the contributions of all these people, the advice they gave me and the opportunities they provided me, I could not have written this thesis. Without further ado, I wish you much enjoyment as you read my Master thesis. Martijn van Dongen Nijmegen, June 2018 i [Page intentionally left blank] ii Summary The Gambia is a small country enveloped on three sides by Senegal, and by the Atlantic Ocean on the fourth side. In December 2016 The Gambia held elections with a surprising result. After 22 years of rule, Yahya Jammeh was democratically voted out of office. His opponent? A businessman with no prior political experience, by the name of Adama Barrow. After a troublesome, but peaceful transfer of power, Barrow took office in a country faced with many challenges. Among these challenges: a stagnant economy reliant on small scale agriculture and tourism. The tourism sector of The Gambia has grown immensely since its emergence in the 1960’s. As international travel has become more accessible and affordable for people in Western Europe, tourists from Scandinavia, Great Britain and The Netherlands have flocked to the winter sun on The Gambia’s tropical beaches. Tourist arrivals have been as high as 170.000 in a year, in contrast to the Gambian population of barely two million. The Gambia’s tourism sector has been highly concentrated on a small segment of its Atlantic coast since the beginning. This coastline has been the most developed part of the country ever since a British governor settled the town of Bathurst (now Banjul) on an island in the Gambia river delta in 1820. While the British ‘owned’ a piece of territory surrounding the Gambia river up to 400 kilometers inland, they rarely intervened outside the small colony in the river delta. Inequality between the coastal area and the interior remains stark to this day. The question many Gambians ask themselves is whether Adama Barrow can succeed his promise of creating a New Gambia. To do so, he must tackle inequality, take away the incentives for emigration and build a more stable economy. His predecessor has not made this task easy for him: human rights deteriorated under Jammeh and few of Jammeh’s economic policies were successfully executed. Instead, Jammeh invested in hospitals and schools, without providing the medicines and teachers needed. Meanwhile the tourism sector developed independently. Foreign private investors provided their own electricity and water infrastructure and international tour operators brought in flights and tourists. This allowed the tourism sector to grow despite Jammeh, not because of him. However, while the tourism sector provides employment opportunities for Gambians and an enjoyable time for tourists, it is far from a win-win situation. Tourism reinforces existing inequality, and the urbanization trend that results from that inequality. Foreign leakage means that a potentially large segment of tourist’s spending does not remain in the Gambian economy long, before flowing back to foreign investors. Lastly, The Gambia does not hold the success of the tourism sector in its own hands, instead it has become dependent on foreign interests. To combat these weaknesses, the Gambia Tourism Board has invested in sustainable tourism projects. These projects aim to transform the tourism sector to become more economically sustainable and increase its positive impacts on the Gambian people. However, successes remain limited. This can be ascribed to both theoretical weaknesses in sustainable tourism theory and poor policy execution as a result of neopatrimonial tendencies. The first year of Barrow’s presidency provides some indicators of change. The assignment of his new tourism minister and the writing process of his National Development Plan are a turn away from traditional neopatrimonialism. However, the economic targets for the tourism sector in his plan remain focused on growth. It is unclear whether these targets can be achieved in an economically sustainable way, without increasing dependence of the Gambian economy on foreign interests. iii Table of Contents Foreword .................................................................................................................................................. i Summary ................................................................................................................................................. iii Table of Contents .................................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures .......................................................................................................................................... vi 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Research Goals ........................................................................................................................ 2 1.2. Research Questions ................................................................................................................. 3 1.3. Societal Relevance ................................................................................................................... 4 1.4. Academic Relevance ................................................................................................................ 6 2. Discussion of theory ....................................................................................................................... 9 2.1. Operationalization ................................................................................................................... 9 2.2. Theoretical Framework ......................................................................................................... 10 2.2.1. Mass tourism and dependency theory .......................................................................... 11 2.2.2. Tourism planning theory ............................................................................................... 13 2.2.3. Sustainable tourism alternatives ................................................................................... 14 2.2.4. Conceptual Model ........................................................................................................
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