Gassa,
You mentioned that FTI left the  Gambia following  governments decision
to ban the  all inclusive package. Let me correct you to say that FTI
went bankrupt because of mismanagement. They involve themselves into to
a lot of business ventures like sponsoring a concert which cost
D3Million, Sponsored of a rap group costing D500,000, sponsoring of a
football team also costing D500,000 among other so call business
ventures that where not sustainable.

Chi  Jamma,
Bro Sheikh Tejan

Jungle Sunrise wrote:

> As I continue talking about roads that do not exist, schools without
> desks or chairs, hospitals without Doctors and medicines, I would like
> to talk about the numerous flights that are coming to the country
> without passengers. But before doing so, I would like to apologise to
> anyone who's asked me questions recently that I haven't answered. My
> email account had been exausted because I was too busy to open and
> delete some of the older mails I just love to keep. I have now deleted
> a considerable amount and I am less busy now.
>
> Having said that, I would like to go back to my mission of telling you
> about the many flights and tour operators that are coming to our
> country without passengers/tourists. This cannot however be done
> without first of all saying a big bravo to SOS Yankuba Touray, his
> team  and the other stakeholders who are doing an excellent job
> promoting The Gambia.
>
> The recent setting up of the Gambia Tourism Authority (GTA) following
> much consultation with all stakeholders is one big step towards
> providing the right environment for further investment in our tourist
> industry as well as its exploitation and the creation of thousands of
> new jobs. This body of young and tallented Gambians are doing a very
> good job and deserve our commendation.
>
> Recently they embarked on reconstructing the roads linking the hotels
> and providing them with street lights. They have also embarked on a
> massive sensitization campaign on radio and TV about what we call the
> "bumpster menace". These are usually young men who look for friends
> among the tourists by escorting them to places of interest in return
> for gifts of cash and other valuables. Many have, over the years, been
> successful in finding tourists who sympathise with their plights and
> many have helped some of them start up new businesses such as opening
> their own bars and restaurants or buying them second hand cars to
> drive as taxis. Some have been invited to Europe to try their luck,
> economically speaking while others even got married to some of these
> tourists. On the other hand however, there has been many instances of
> theft of tourists' valuables, harassement and outright attacks on
> them.
>
> Hand in hand with this sensitization programmes, is the selection of
> some of them and training them as professional tourist guides. This
> has had the benefit of both reducing crimes against visitors and
> gainfully using their knowledge of the various places of interest
> where these visitors could go.
>
> Our vendors in the tourism areas are also being sensitized about the
> hard-sell tactics that some of them use and which some tourists resent
> very much. Over pricing of commodities in order to start a long and
> hard bargaining process is also being discouraged. Taxi drivers are
> also being sensitized about the need to observe high personal hygiene
> and honesty. These efforts are now beginning to bear fruits.
>
> A few weeks ago, one of Europe's biggest tour operators, Thomas Cooke,
> announced that they would start bringing in tourists to The Gambia
> commencing in the next winter season. They would be bringing in
> tourists from mainly Belgium, Holland and Germany. According to
> reports, they would be using their own planes and flying in directly
> from Brusselles.
>
> You would recall that a few years ago our tourist industry suffered
> significantly when FTI left The Gambia following the government's
> decision to ban the all inclusive package, whereby tourists pay for
> everything in Europe including, beds, entertainment, meals and drinks.
> FTI was also accused of encouraging tourists to stay within their
> hotel complexes by telling them that the quality of the food and water
> outside the hotels could not be guaranteed by them. The bumster menace
> and the dark areas of some of the tourist areas and the inherent
> dangers it posed were also said to have been blown out of proportion
> to discourage their tourists from ever leaving their hotels. This had
> the effect of tourists staying their hotels most of their stay and
> hardly spending any money outside. This caused a lot of resentment
> among the other indirect beneficiaries of the tourist trade such as
> the taxi drivers, fruit sellers, discotheque operators, owners of
> small restaurants and bars etc. These people were incensed more, not
> because they hated this form of tourism, but because rather than
> building new hotels in no man's land, as some put it, they used
> already established hotels such as the former Sunwing hotel which is
> surrounded by numerous small restaurants and bars. To Thomas Cooke, we
> say welcome to the smiling coast.
>
> Not only are the existing hotels being renovated and upgraded ahead of
> the international classification of them, new hotels are being built
> in the Senegambia area, Sanyang, Batokunku etc. The government has
> also started looking into the issue of the many half-built hotels that
> have, for years, been an eyesore in the midst of our sandy beaches, to
> put it mildly. Some of these partly built structures were started well
> over 20 years ago and have never opened. The government, through the
> AMRC, has been advertising the sale of one of them, the
> ex-International Casino and two adjacent properties by the Palma Rima
> hotel area. The Casino, restaurant and bar complex has an approximate
> area of 6,967.73 square Metres, Hotel Complex A has an area of
> approximately 2.30 Hectares and Hotel Complex B has an approximate
> area of 2.01 Hectares. People wishing to bid for any of these
> properties must apply for each separately and must be willing and able
> to develop them to at least four star status.
>
> Not only are new hotels being built, old ones being renovated and
> refurbished, new operators coming in and existing operators expanding
> and consolidating their presence, but more and more people are also
> looking to The Gambia as a good holiday destination. As such, the
> number of jobs and flights are also increasing dramatically.
>
> SN Brusselles, the successor to Sabena, has announced that with effect
> from the 26th of April 2002, it would commence thrice weekly flights
> to The Gambia. This would increase to five flights a week with effect
> from June 2002.
>
> The Gambia's UK specialist tour operator, Gambia experience, has
> announced that with effect from November 2002 the first flight service
> directly from Scotland to Banjul will begin. operating from Glasgow
> airport, the new service will also fly in tourists via Bristol on
> Tuesdays.  This service is with the award-winning airline, Air 2000.
>
> They have also announced that with effect from the begining of the
> winter season they would also be flying tourists from manchester and
> Bristol as well as three other flights  a week from London Gatwick.
>
> In another development,  Mr. S.M. Jallow, the Managing Director of Red
> Air, a new company pioneered and established by Redcoat and dedicated
> Gambian investors, would also be commencing a twice weekly operation
> to and from London Gatwick with effect from 2nd May, 2002 with a DC 10
> aircraft. It could be recalled that direct flights between london
> Gatwick and Banjul International Airport, operated by British Airways
> ceased in 1990.
>
> The DC 10 aircraft with a configuration of 33 First Class, 86 Club
> Class and 148 Economy Class seats is said to be very suitable for the
> route as it has a generous belly hold capacity for Gambia's numerous
> horticultural growers and general cargo.
>
> In addition to to the flights to and from Gatwick Airport, the same
> aircraft will be utilised for services to and from Freetown, Lagos,
> entebbe and Dubai. The Dubai service would be particularly welcome by
> the business community considering the increased volume of trade
> between the two countries.
>
> The release from the Managing Director also says that plans are afoot
> to launch operations to New York by August 2002.
>
> It could be recalled that I reported, sometime back,  that plans were
> afoot for the commencement of flights between Windhoek, Namibia and
> The Gambia. This was announced by the Namibian Ambassador to The
> Gambia when presenting his letters of credence to the head of state,
> Jammeh. These developments can only mean increased confidence in our
> country as a suitable place to invest in and also visit.
>
> DHL Worldwide Express introduces new Cessna 208B plane
>
> Though not reported when it began, DHL Worldwide Express introduced a
> Cessna 208B into The Gambia on the 19th December 2001. According to
> the General Manager, Mr. Akwasi Aninakwah, it will initially be
> operating 3 times a week and it is a direct response to the lack of
> regular and committed commercial uplift for their shipments and its
> attendant delays.
>
> Explaining the benefits to The Gambia, Mr. Akwasi said that it would:
>
> 1. Improve transit times and would provide overnight delivery to most
> West African countries and 48 hours to Europe and North America.
>
> 2. Provide secuirty for parcels as the dedicated aircraft feeds
> directly into the DHL network right from Banjul. This means that there
> would be no third party handling of DHL shipments.
>
> 3. The use of the aircraft would also further enhance DHL's capability
> in handling all documents and parcels with minimal weight
> restrictions.
>
> 4. The over reliance on commercial uplift with its attendant problems
> of offloads, misplaced bags, delays and cancellations becomes a thing
> of the past.
>
> It would be recalled that DHL Worldwide Express started operations in
> The Gambia in 1986 with its Gambia operations handled from Senegal
> until recently. You may visit their website at www.dhl.gm. These
> developments, my friends, only means that Vision 2020 may be a reality
> afterall.
>
> Have a good day, gassa.
>  There is a time in the life of every problem when it is big enough to
> see, yet small enough to solve. -Mike- Levitt-
>
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