Karamba, You have highlighted all the right elements missing in Government's strategy for the Tourism Sector in The Gambia. With increase competetion from destinations like Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana (not to mention the more established destinations in Europe, South America and the Caribean). The ADB has offered, and Government has accepted, to review the entire sector with a view to developing a blue print (Master Plan) for the sector. Tourism is one of the few sectors without a blueprint as opposed to the agric., education and health sectors. As a private sector-driven sector, Government's involvement will be limited to providing the necessary environment (including tax incentives, less government bureaucratic red-tpe etc.)for the private sector to operate freely without hinderance. The political will and commitment must be there, of course, for it to happen and succeed. By way of information, a two-day workshop is being sponsored by Delloit & Touche from 1-2 November in which the problems facing the sector will be diagnosed with the participation of the both expatriate, local operators, local consultants of the likes of Batch Fye, Sheik Tejan Nyang, Bax Touray, Abdou Njie etc. I may also be there to participate in the discussions. I will keep you posted whether I attend or not. Alpha Barry a partner at Delloit and Touche in The Gambia is coordinating the workshop. What is currently in store may not be the answer to the huge problems facing the sector but, in my view, a worthwhile attempt at addressing some the issues you have raised in your piece. The Tourism Setor Study alluded to earlier should commence early in the new year. Sidi Sanneh _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------