Luxury Holiday Apartments In Gambia, West Africa
Flight No FCA 346 from the United Kingdom, landed last Thursday night, at the Banjul International Airport with 233 tourists on board, courtesy of the First Choice Tour Operator in the UK. This is the first flight of the year.
Speaking to newsmen shortly after the arrival of the tourists, Ms Angella Colley, Secretary of State for Tourism and Culture, said the arrival of the first tourist flight is a sign of hope for booming tourist season. She added: “It is a sign of improvement in The Gambia’s tourism sector. Gambian people are the best products that the country have. The peaceful nature of The Gambia, made the whole difference in exhibiting the country as an excellent tourist destination in Africa and the world, in particular.”
She also expressed delight, as the first arrival clearly indicates that there will be a positive turn-out in the winter season of 2007 / 2008. For his part, Kaliba Senghore, Director- General of the Gambia Tourism Authority revealed that “out of the total number of 233 tourist arrivals, 188 will be lodged in hotels and the rest are going either to their old friends or lodge in motels”.
He added that at least one flight is expected every Thursday throughout the month of October. According to him, this arrival of tourists will be followed by 4 to 5 flights, especially during the Christmas season.
The Gambia is part of the African Boom and plans are to revitalize and diversify the Gambian tourism industry through adequate promotion, innovation, quality improvement and broadening the product range.
The revitalization exercise is in the top gear. An unprecedented 1 million dalasis promotion campaign is billed to aggressively sell the destination, "we are printing 20,000 brochures to project the image of Gambian tourism, we are also making promotional videos for presentation at international tourism conferences,"
Diversifying Gambia Tourism involves a shift of focus from the traditional package-tour business and a foray into the up-market. "We need to make tourism contribute more to the economy, we need to diversify the industry, explore the upscale market and realize the full potential of tourism in this country", posits Touray, explaining the government’s drive to encourage five-star facilities and luxury projects catering for the high-spending traveller. http://www.tafgambia.co.uk/
Underscoring the potential for high demand of up-market facilities is the high occupancy rates at the two five-star hotels in the country. Attractive taxes, free land and low labor costs would also underpin the viability of such projects. Farid Bensouda, international hotelier and Managing Director of Coconut Residence, one of the two 5-star hotels, analyses The Gambia’s competitiveness. "Taxes are reasonable, very fair, the land is cheap and the labor is cheap. Colleagues in the Caribbean pay 10 times than I do, or 10 to 20 times in the south of Spain."
The environment is enabling and incentives for investments in up-market tourism are huge. These include a three-year tax holiday, duty waivers and exemption from customs duties, sales tax and turnover tax. Investors needn’t bother about buying the land either; acres of beautiful properties await investors free of cost of the TDA. The all-inclusive market is also welcome; government has earmarked a special site to cater for it without disrupting the workings of the present system. In 1998, the rejection of the all-inclusive package led to the withdrawal of Frosh Touristik International (FTI), a German operator, with a prospect of about 20,000 visitors form the Gambia market.
"We are negotiating with Air Tours, new owners of FTI, for their return into the market", State Secretary Touray points out.
A number of other projects have been designed to broaden the smile of the ‘Smiling Coast’, the tourism image of the Gambia. Plans are afoot, under the Kombo Coastal Roads Project, which aims at expanding the road network serving the country’s most beautiful beaches, to develop the southern Atlantic Coast from Tanji to Kartong.
The beautiful expanse of land, bathed by both the ocean and river, offers a rare nature’s paradise and an ideal site for vacations. The Gambia is also targeting the American and French markets. http://www.gambia-
Recent breakthroughs in direct air travel between Banjul and New York will ensure a steady stream of American visitors into the Gambia and further consolidate the ROOTS Homecoming Festival; a cultural initiative attracting Diaspora Africans to explore the continent’s rich cultural heritage. Another perk is the VISA connectivity of the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) of Gambia’s leading bank, Standard Chartered Bank, giving credit-card-
The diversification move includes an emphasis on ethno and eco-tourism. Investors are welcome to take advantage of the potentials in deep-sea-fishing, cultural tourism, nature reserves and parks development, bird watching, luxury river cruises and up-country tourism development. Sporting clubs, conference facilities and golf courses are other investment opportunities that could earn special privileges and attractive profit margins. http://www.gambia-
The Ghana Tourism Federation (GHATOF), an umbrella organisation for about 14 trade associations in the tourism industryis working with its Gambian counterpart to partner and share experiences in tourism development.
The two associations under the agreement would hold joint programmes to promote tourism products in the two countries while recommending their clients to visit key places in both countries.Mrs Stella Appenteng, President of the Ghana Tourism Federation, said both countries stood to benefit by engaging in joint marketing programmes with the possibility of participating in international trade fairs.
She was speaking at a stakeholders' meeting with a 15-member Gambian delegation who are in the country for a familiarisation tour 'We will have the opportunity to do joint literature about various tourism sites in both countries like brochures, flyers and billboards.'
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
