|
September 15, 2007 Culture, Business Can Grow Tourism Industry in Country, Gambia ON the heels of the Europeans came the Americans, the Koreans, the Chinese, and others. Then the South Africans too came, after the collapse of apartheid, and now, the Gambians are also trying to actualize business development efforts in Nigeria. About a fortnight ago, a young man, Mr. Alieu Secka was in Lagos, as he said, to explore increased business opportunities between Nigeria and the Gambia. Alieu Secka is Chairman of the Gambia Hotels Association, an umbrella organization of hotel owners and operators in the country once famed for its groundnut exports. In the conversation below, Secka speaks of efforts his country is making at growing its tourism industry, and why Nigeria is key to that effort. Excerpts. Welcome to Nigeria, Mr. Secka. You want to make an opening statement? Gambia, as you may know may know is renowned for tourism, having been in the business for the past 30 years and more, not withstanding the fact that our market is predominantly European, which does very well between November and April, and then closes in the summer or what we call the green season, from May onwards. We are looking at certain departments now to see how we can build the tourist traffic, from then onward, and maintain the process of tourist inflow from May onwards. One of the obvious partners we are looking to is Nigeria, for many reasons ranging from the conventional to the strategic. The Gambia has benefitted from Nigeria in technical assistance, especially with regards to the legislature, the civil service and the healthcare sector particularly, but also stands to benefit more with the capacity and the size of Nigeria both in terms of people and resources. I also say that Nigeria is the heart of Africa as it had been said already by Nigerians themselves. If it beats, it keeps the whole body together, but if it sneezes, then everyone catches a cold. So we are looking at effective, positive relations and I think it's the way we need to go, observe ourselves in Africa and relate more. We all travel to Europe and America and the rest of the world; unfortunately we do not know ourselves as Africans, as well as we should. We also have tremendous opportunities in every facet of the hospitality world which we can explore and enjoy even more than what we go and do elsewhere. So this is an opportunity to see how we can promote our own nation, because there is much to offer, and to see how we can continue to enjoy the benefits and the positive aspects of tourism About yourself? I am chairman of the Gambia Hotels Association. Gambia has an association that represents all the major hotels. Recently, we set up a secretariat and is now a full time office that represents the hotels in The Gambia, that is, the office serves as a focal point for the co-ordination and the representation of the industry. The association plays a leading role in the promotion of tourism in The Gambia. The association finances its activities through an annual membership subscription based on the number of rooms and other special contributions when necessary. Meetings are held every month to review matters affecting its members or the tourism sector in general. I am in Nigeria to see what we can do to improve and increase tourist inflow to Gambia. Can you give an overview of the Gambian hotel industry, its present circumstances? The hotel industry in Gambia is mainly located on the stretch of plains mainly on the coastal part, with lovely beaches, seen as a paradise by many Europeans and Americans that visit Gambia. There are four main resort areas in the palm-fringed coastline, with long stretches of golden sands overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. We cater for all, from the basic accommodation facilities to luxury products including the five star facilities. The hotel industry represents all the prospects of accommodation that you may request. Most of the hotels are self contained complexes set in spacious gardens and will generally cater to the needs of most tourists. There are also dozens of camps, lodges and motels in the rural areas which provide basic but comfortable accommodation and food for tourists on excursions or other visitors. In a nutshell, that is an overview of accommodation in Gambia, but what I can tell you is that we do cater for all levels of accommodations. What is the approach of your drive at the Nigerian market? What sectors of the Nigerian market are you looking at? Have you already segmented the market or conducted any study? If so, what will be the strategies that we can begin to see in terms of market penetration in the future? In fact, the purpose of this short visit is to assess and collate data that will assist us in formulating an adequate and the successful strategy. We are aware that the Nigerian market is large and sophisticated, but also, with the experience that we have had over the past 30 years with the Europeans particularly, we feel the Nigerian market will impact sooner, and that will include catering to leisure market, and for exposure, especially the business market. What I think is that over the years, Gambia has had millions of returns from tourism and perhaps it had one of the highest traffic in business tourism -- one of every three tourists in Gambia. Over the years people have come back many times to the point where a lady recently has been to Gambia 28 times in the last few years. So that is an indication of the success Gambia has had. We are also aware that tourism is growing in the area of business and here you look at meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions or what you call MICE. There is a lot of business in the industry, for Nigeria with all the big companies that operate here; apart from what they would have here but also they can move else where, to some new site and begin with Gambia for that opportunity. So that's another area. Thirdly is the culture business. Gambia or that part of the world would like to believe that we work like you do here in Nigeria and that there is a lot more you can also get in that regards.Its not always that you need to wear our western European attire and think Gambia president is the one you will never see in European attire, you will only see him in his African ambo as you would call it. Certainly there is much more beauties that we posses in Africa that perhaps we do not manifest as well that we should. So we are hoping that we try and understand the business in this regards we will continue to encourage more African pilgrimage from Nigeria. Already that are coming to Gambia and to do, and also sending ambassador so that more and more of us can wear the African wear. So that is also another area that we should expand in tourism. A lot of us are most familiar with the European Museum and that of Italian or Chinese, but maybe we have not had the privilege of sampling our own products, and enhance it. How about the problem of access, I mean transportation? Yes, that certainly is one of the issues that we would have to continue looking into. Access had been a challenge in this part of the world. We are getting closer to the airlines to improve on this challenge. I can assure you the airlines would be the beneficiaries and already we have started this relationship with them, one that we are already working with actively. Apart from all you've said, why else should people come to Gambia? Why should people not come to Gambia? There is no better place. I think we need to explore these opportunities. Let's talk about what is available in the US, you also have in Africa. Anything you can buy in the US you can also buy in Gambia. There is also the issue of hanging out together; what we have amongst ourselves that binds us together, but also gives us variety, and opens our interest to need more beyond what we see on TV. When you talk about hotel accommodation, in the Gambia particularly we have from the board of hotels to the luxury hotels, which can match anywhere in the rest of the world, both in terms of facilities and services. So again we put all this together, and you wonder why you go out there |
|
 |
|