How could tourism benefit the poor? Can tourists be enticed out of the resorts into which they are cocooned by tour operators? Should the travel industry do more to assist the informal sector? Can those involved in developing tourist-friendly products reduce the level of hassling by touts and curb aggressive bargaining by tourists?

An action research project has demonstrated the potential to link tourism with poverty elimination in the West African state of the Gambia. Suggestions arising from workshops bringing together all the stakeholders in the Gambian tourist industry have produced recommendations of relevance to any sun, sand and sea destination in a developing country.

Tourism in the Gambia has developed in ways that provide few opportunities for poor people and the informal sector to participate. Private and small-scale tourism enterprises have been relegated to the fringes of the tourism sector, receiving minimum benefit from the trickle effect of mainstream tourism.

Visitor expenditure in the informal sector is already significant –a third of in-country daily spending – but could be increased. The major problems experienced by the informal sector concern access to tourists, dealing with competition and commissions and tourist ignorance about products and services. Craft stallholders are keen to develop new products and to make the buying-selling experience less traumatic.

Interviews with stakeholders showed that:

• Most tourists would like access to a greater range of complementary products during their stay: they would welcome the opportunity to use local guides to learn about Gambian culture, rather than book shows through hotel desks.
• The operators are so attached to the Gambia’s well-established reputation as a cheap package holiday destination that they find it hard to develop alternative products.
• Small businesses are willing to take out newly accessible forms of public liability insurance.
• Licensing and badging, backed by a code of conduct, are seen by informal operators as an important mechanism to secure access.

Consensus-building processes have laid the basis for a tripartite approach to managing the industry between government, tour operators and a new alliance of informal sector entrepreneurs. The resulting responsible tourism partnership is producing tangible benefits as income earned by fruit sellers, juice pressers, guides and vendors in craft markets has increased substantially.

Key recommendations include calls for:

• hotels to improve supply-side linkages – do more local sourcing of fruit, vegetables and meat, buy produce from local women’s co-operatives and allow licensed, informal sector vendors into hotel premises
• tour operators to provide information to clients on informal sector services and to recommend particular craftsmen, guides and drivers
• tour operators to include visits to villages, craft markets, communities and schools in excursion programmes and to undertake prior visits to ensure tourists are welcomed and not hassled by touts
• action to curb ‘bumsterism’, the local term used to describe how linguistically proficient but otherwise poorly educated young men accost and seek to befriend tourists
• tackling issues of insurance on a case-by-case basis – liability constraints on tour operators may not be as significant as is sometimes argued by the formal sector
• encouraging tourists to expand their gastronomic horizons beyond the western fare served in hotels by promotion of recipe books, food festivals and cooking competitions.

Source(s):
‘Harnessing tourism for poverty elimination: a blueprint from the Gambia: final report to DFID’, DFID Tourism Challenge Fund Project, NRI Report No. 2693, Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, 2002 Full document.
‘Improving access for the informal sector to tourism in the Gambia’, PPT Working Paper No. 15, Adama Bah and Harold Goodwin, February 2003 Full document.

Funded by: DFID (C1526)

id21 Research Highlight: 28 August 2003

Further Information:
Joanne Downard
Enterprise Trade and Finance Group
Natural Resources Institute
University of Greenwich at Medway
Central Avenue
Chatham Maritime
Kent ME4 4TB
UK

Tel: +44 (0)1634 883199
Fax: +44 (0)1634 883706
Contact the contributor: nret@gre.ac.uk

Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, UK

Adama Bah
Gambia Tourism Concern
c/o Bungalow Beach Hotel
P.O. Box 2637
Serrekunda
The Gambia

Tel: +220 465288 / 465623
Fax: +220 466180

Gambia Tourism Concern

Other related links:
'Pro-poor tourism: failed promises?'

'Pro-poor tourism: opportunities for the poor?'

'Pro-poor tourism: putting poverty at the heart of mass tourism'

'Tourism in Namibia: enhancing livelihood impacts'

Pro-poor Tourism strategies aim to unlock opportunities for the poor

'The World Tourism Organisation focuses on tourism policy issues'