Gambia Struggles to Get on Tourists' Map

In West Africa, 
Sun, Sand, Peace 
Remain Tough Sell
By DANIEL  MICHAELS
Wall Street Journal
March 10, 2008; Page A6

BANJUL, Gambia -- As foreign investment and travel in Africa surge, many  
countries see a golden opportunity to market themselves as tourist destinations.  
But even for states like The Gambia -- a peaceful coastal land of sun and 
sand  -- luring visitors is a struggle.
Growth in travel to Africa has outpaced the  world average in recent years. 
Sub-Saharan African tourism in 2007 grew 4.2%,  compared with world-wide growth 
of 3.9%, according to the World Travel and  Tourism Council, or WTTC, a trade 
group that analyzes industry trends. Several  factors contributed: New 
airline routes from Europe, Asia and the Middle East  have generated more traffic; 
several countries recently at war, such as Algeria  and Mozambique, have 
returned to relative peace; longtime tourist magnets such  as South Africa, Morocco 
and Egypt are marketing themselves aggressively around  the world, attracting 
attention to the entire continent.

For Gambia, Africa's smallest country by area, tourism offers big economic  
hopes. The country's main export is ground nuts, and most of its 1.5 million  
people get by on money sent home by relatives living overseas, economists say.  
Gambia lacks oil or precious minerals, so tourism is seen as vital to the  
country's future economic development.
"Gambia's oil could be tourism," says  Jean-Claude Baumgarten, president of 
the WTTC.
But the country still has far  to go. With the exception of one big new hotel 
operated by Sheraton Hotels &  Resorts, a unit of Starwood Hotels & Resorts 
Worldwide Inc., Gambia lacks  significant tourism infrastructure, such as 
resorts, fine restaurants or  upmarket safari operators. Facilities remain limited 
to a handful of low-rise  beach hotels not far from the capital's sleepy 
airport.

While Gambian politics are more stable than in many African countries, the  
government is dogged by human-rights issues. The U.S. government and Amnesty  
International have accused the regime of rigging elections and persecuting  
political opponents. Gambian officials deny the charges.

In Kenya, widespread violence following December's contested election is  
expected to wipe out that country's annual income from tourism this year,  
including from the lucrative safari industry. The country's $3 billion tourism  
industry accounted for 11% of its gross domestic product in 2007, according to  
the WTTC.
In Gambia, a mere sliver on the Atlantic coast, most tourists are  Northern 
Europeans seeking wintertime sun. While that has limited tourism  income, it 
also means the country hasn't been stigmatized as a mass-market beach  resort 
like parts of Mexico or Spain's Mediterranean coast. Promoters say  Gambia's 
undeveloped economy may be one of its biggest assets.

"We still see this as a virgin land with high potential for tourism  
development," says Kabila Senghore, director general of the Gambian Tourism  Authority.
The new Sheraton here, which aspires to be West Africa's finest  hotel, shows 
the potential. The $40 million beachfront complex, completed last  year, 
offers bungalows, a conference center and an infinity pool nestled among  giant 
baobab trees.

General manager Jennifer Buhr says she is offering wedding and honeymoon  
packages, marketing the center for international conferences and hoping to  
develop a shopping mall, tennis courts and a golf course on the property. A spa  
slated to open soon "will help bring up the tourism level a notch," she  said.
But simply reaching Gambia can be a challenge, because there are few  direct 
flights or easy connections from outside Africa. The country's sole  private 
airline, Slok Air International, has struggled to operate one  plane.
"Air access to Banjul is a national priority," says Lamin Sanyang,  managing 
director of state-owned Gambia International Airlines Ltd., which has  no 
planes.
The WTTC estimates that travel and tourism account for roughly 17%  of 
Gambia's GDP -- because there is so little else to the country's economy. For  
tourism to significantly boost Gambia's economy, the sector must double to  almost 
40% of GDP, a level comparable to Caribbean and Southeast Asian tourist  
destinations, Mr. Baumgarten says. He bases that assessment on an analysis done  by 
management-consulting firm Accenture and British economic-analysis firm  
Oxford Economics.

According to the WTTC, 80% of the economic activity and jobs created by  
tourism world-wide are in small and medium-size businesses, such as taxis,  
restaurants and tour guides. Profits from such outfits stay in a local economy  and 
create related jobs in food processing, construction and crafts. Mr.  
Baumgarten says that Gambia's local operations aren't yet strong enough to be  
self-sustaining.
Global tourism giants like hotel chains and airlines,  meanwhile, have a more 
limited impact. They generate relatively few jobs in  remote locations and 
usually transfer profits back to their home  country.
Still, it is often brand-name chains that draw visitors from rich  countries 
to new and distant destinations, so travel-industry managers in Gambia  hope 
more will arrive.

"It's good Sheraton came because it's a recognized brand," says Christian  
Hermans, a manager at Belgium's Brussels Airlines, who spent more than two  
decades in Africa with the carrier and its predecessor, Sabena. Brussels  Airlines 
is one of very few scheduled European carriers serving Gambia, although  
several British and Scandinavian charter carriers offer flights during Europe's  
winter.

One key to moving upmarket, say tourism specialists, is offering visitors  
something unusual. Mr. Senghore at the Gambian Tourism Authority said the  
country is working to promote ecotourism, to take advantage of the country's  
undeveloped wetlands along the Gambia River, which draw almost 600 species of  
birds.
But Gambia's annual tourism-promotion budget is only around $300,000.  
"That's not much," said Mr. Senghore. "If we had more resources to market, we  could 
attract more visitors."
 



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