A Critique of Tourism Policy and Planning in The Gambia - Coursework Example

Tourism Development in Gambia Insert Insert Grade Insert Tourism Development in Gambia In development of a country, there is a need for transfer of currency from one place to another. For economic advancement to be realised in any country, all sectors are expected to be actively involved in gaining income. Most countries rely on sectors such as agriculture, industry and tourism. Most of these sectors realise faster growth in the event they include both the local and foreign customers. Most incomes that impact the economy in a great way are the foreign exchange. This is because some sectors are able to transact with other partners from foreign countries. The sector that I will focus on in this paper is tourism. By establishing good plans of operation and implementing them through well managed institution, the sector of tourism realises fast development. When good strategies and good structures are put in place, it is possible to realise development in tourism sector. The combination of contributions of various institutions causes advancement in tourism. The country of Gambia is one that through its institutions have laid very important strategies that have promoted development. This country has been able to realise tourism growth in the midst of hard economic circumstances facing it (Goodwin and Bah: 2012, p.1). The strategies they have laid are worth critique because they have led to recognisable change in economic status of their government. This is an analysis of major aspects of tourism in Gambia. In this assignment, I will analyse the features characterising the Gambian tourism and their economic importance to the people of this country, problems that challenge development of this sector looking at the institutions that are responsible for development of tourism in Gambia and any official approach used in delivery of services. These will be targeted to evaluate the set out approach to verify if it is realistic. The Gambian tourism has training as one of its sub sectors. For instance, many of the institutions for training human resource required for this sector include such like Gambia Hotel School, Gambia Technical Training Institute, Gambia Home Economics Skills Centre and Girl Guides Skills Training Centre. These are all covered under the umbrella of a regulatory body known as National Training Authority, which regulate what to be taught to all students whether from private or public training institutions (Gauron: 1999, p.4-7). These training institutions prepare workers in various subsectors of tourism in Gambia. Some of the products of these institutions are hotel managers, cooks with experience in international cuisines, tour guides among other people. The other feature of Gambian tourism is hotel services. In the year 2001, there were hotel beds that reached up to five thousand that were targeted to accommodate tourists. It is known that more hotels have been established since then and the number of beds is estimated to around 7,000 (Euromonitor International: 2012, p.2). Another important feature of Gambian tourism is transport. There are means of transport provided to tourists headed for various destinations. Although most transport is done by foreign organisation, it is an important feature of tourism in Gambia. This is facilitated by infrastructure made by the government. This sub sector of tourism in Gambia incorporate tour guides who lead and direct visitors to destinations they intended. These features of Gambian tourism have various benefits to the economy and in terms of employment opportunity. This is mostly to the people who are employed in tourism sector and those who benefit from the presence of tourists in an area through business and service delivery. Statistics show that tourism in Gambia contributes at least 12.5% to the gross Domestic Product (GDP) of this country (Chant and Evans: 2010, p. 357). As a result of establishment of tourist attraction sites, both domestic and foreign tourists spend on visiting them. This serves as a boost to economy of Gambia by increasing the income for the government in local and foreign currency. Another way tourist is beneficial to Gambian economy is the economic multiplier effect. In this way, money that is spent on a tourist industry serves to develop an area it is situated; either directly or in very indirect ways. For example, a tourist hotel industry in one place will gain some money from a tourist but will use a lot of the money on goods and services from within its vicinity. This causes improvement (economically) of adjacent populace even without their direct involvement with that hotel industry (Mitchell and Faal: 2008, p.4). Tourism development is also associated with development of infrastructure. This is in attempt to connect homes and destinations of tourists. Infrastructure will take shape of roads, railways, sea and airports. Other aspects of infrastructure that would undergo development would be telecommunication and electricity as well as water and sanitations structures. These would be improved by increasing the economic productivity of otherwise less productive areas. On employment, tourism industry in Gambia has absorbed very many people. For example, there are those who are directly employed in hotels, tourist sites and those who work in areas of transporting tourists. Other people have indirect employment because of the presence of this sector in the economy of Gambia. These include business people in areas nearing site of tourist attraction, trainers in the institutions teaching courses in tourism among others (Youell: 2012, p. 356). Negative effects of these features of tourism in Gambia include leakage where most of them may be owned by the same foreigners who come to spend in them. This is witnessed in Gambia where many of tourist activities and services are offered by foreigners as a package. This leaves little gain to the government of Gambia. Some features may cause citizens of Gambia to neglect their traditional jobs. This may be exemplified by farmers neglecting their job and joining hotel industry as workers (Youell: 2012, p.357). Tourism in Gambia is faced by various issues. These issues reduce the productivity of this sector. One of the notable problems is low standard of accommodation. Although there are many accommodation services, they do not meet the international standards of quality. They are, therefore, charged less than they ought to be charged (Mitchell and Faal: 2007, p.9). Another problem that faces tourism in Gambia is its seasonality. It is realised that many tourists visit the country of Gambia when it is winter in Europe. This reduces the productivity of business during the low season. For example, a bed in a hotel is paid less than half the price during low season than in the high season. For instance, in many five star hotels in Gambia, one night in high season is paid nineteen sterling pounds as compared to nine sterling pounds in low season. This seasonality may cause inconsistence in business development in that country. This is because many workers have to be laid off during low seasons. The problem is that peak season happens only once in the year (Mitchell and Faal: 2008, p.13). There are institutions that are associated with developing tourism in Gambia. One of the institutions is the government. The government of Gambia through National Training Authority regulates learning in institutions that train tourist service providers. Their contribution is realised in devising curriculum. The government is the full power that sanctions development of tourists’ attraction sites. The government is a key stakeholder in implementing infrastructure to ensure access of sites by visitors. Moreover, the government determines the share they will charge the hoteliers in terms of taxes which consequently dictate charges (Tribe and Airey: 2007, p.57). Another institution that determines growth and development of tourism industry is the training institutions. These are important to give updated information about tourism requirement for all who aspire to be part of this big group. These training institutions produce experts who are able to interact favourably with all visitors to Gambia. A variety of experts are produced by these institutions. These include cooks, tour guides, drivers, managers, security personnel and others like translators of languages (Euromonitor International: 2012, p.1). Another institution that offers support in development of tourism in Gambia is hotel management. These hotels agree on the cost they will charge so that there is no much disparity in charging tourists. This means that in agreement these hotel groups are responsible for setting standards that a business has to attain for it to reach a certain rank. This, therefore, determine class prices for services in different ranks of a hotel. In its operation, tourism sector of Gambia uses an official strategy of value chain. This is made in such a way that it incorporates foreign countries offering services to the tourists so that the government of Gambia receives a share of the entire amount received by those organisations. This is mostly noted when it comes to offering flight service to tourists from different European countries. Some of the companies that offer package tours are British based airline and Dutch airline. This strategy happens also in offering hotel services to tourists in Gambia (Mitchell and Faal, 2007, p.453). This strategy allows foreign companies to operate hotel services in the country. This means that Gambian government collects taxes from these companies and services are offered according to the people as they ought to receive them. Although this method was perceived as though it would advance leakage, it works well with the government of Gambia receiving upto double benefit from package of high season as compared to low season. A whole package including administration, insurance, and marketing; sales commission; implied gross surplus and destination support adds up to 530 sterling pounds in low season and 650 sterling pounds per individual. Although this amount does not double for these companies, the amount that the government of Gambia receives from this is double. Through this strategy, the government of Gambia targets to raise the number of visitors by over 40 per cent of the current attraction by the year 2020. This seems to be realisable because of the rate at which their tourism industry is growing. More and more hotels to accommodate new visitors have been constructed. Evaluation of this strategy proves that Gambia is on the right track. This is because the problems facing this industry will be managed by these foreign bodies which have a higher capital base. For example, the problem of offering transport to the destinations is solved and tourists are assured of arrival if they have planned a package tour with a company from their own country. This is realised because they make all the plans from their homes. This covers up the shortcomings of transport affecting Gambia. To address the problem of hotel services, this strategy will ensure that the companies take full responsibility to offer quality services to the people. This strategy will enhance construction of high quality hotels in Gambia, which will be an attraction to many other tourists. The strategy does not put the cost of services high and, therefore, it will lead to increased attraction. With the provisions of the existing strategies, the target to raise attraction by a margin of 40% is realisable in the next eight years. This is a time that is enough to ensure refurbishment and renovation of existing hotels with expansion of their services as well as construction of new ones. Being one of the poorest nations in the world, Gambia has to find ways through which it can establish some sectors that count much to its economy. The tourism sector is one of those that were worth revisiting with strategies that result in increased income. Their chain value strategies have led to establishment of business premises by foreign organisations that generate income to that nation. Although it can be criticised on the basis of sharing the benefits of the whole process, this is a viable strategy for such a nation like Gambia. The strategy makes foreign investors put a lot of input in tourism industry and the government of Gambia has little spending on such businesses yet it receives incomes from them. The strategy has enabled the government of Gambia to amicably address issues that threaten the collapse of tourism industry in Gambia. This also has resulted in growth of economy of the republic of Gambia. The strategy adopted by Gambia also has offered prospects of a better growth in tourism sector. In doing all these, their vision 2020 of tourism growth is realisable. Bibliography Chant, S., and Evans, A., 2010. Looking for the One(s): Young Love and Urban Poverty in the Gambia. Environment and Urbanization.22, 353-369. Euromonitor International, 2012. Travel and Tourism in Gambia. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 10 January 2013]. Gauron, P., 1999. Looking beyond the brochure [tourism in the Gambia]. London: Tourism Concern. Goodwin, H. And Bah, A., 2012. The Gambia: paradise or purgatory? International Development Magazine, International Centre for Responsible Tourism, University of Greenwich Mitchell, J., and Faal, J., 2007, Holiday Package Tourism and the Poor in the Gambia. Development Southern Africa. 24, 445-464 Mitchell, J. and Faal, J., 2008. The Gambian Tourist Value Chain and Prospects for Pro-Poor Tourism. London: Overseas Development Institute. Tribe, J., and Airey, D. W., 2007. Developments in Tourism Research. Oxford: Elsevier Science. Youell, R., 2012. BTEC Level 3, tourism and travel. London: t and t publishing. Read More