The Gambian economy continues to suffer for the low tourists turnover. The Gambian economy remains vulnerable to international war on terrorism and the turmoil in the Middle East. These global events are deteriorating an already unsettle tourism and energy sectors of the economy. As the tourist season ended in May 04, the benchmark of tourist arriving Gambia had subsided more than 50 percent less from the high it touched on May 03. This is serious and therefore we cannot relax. People might not believe it but The Gambian economy is exquisitely sensitive to the tourism contribution. Tourism in Gambia can caused a nationwide slump, it is capable of causing mass unemployment, double-digit inflation, extraordinary political turmoil and losses of economic welfare on a scale hitherto associated with draught. How reassuring is this? If businesses in the tourism industry operates below minimum sustainable capacity than it would otherwise have been, and stays there a while, let say three (3) months or longer, prices in general will rise, output and incomes will be reduced, and unemployment will be raised. This vicious combination of higher inflation, depreciating Dalasis and lower growth stagflation, to recall the draught period of the 80s is the worst scenario the Gambian economic policy maker can contemplate. The debate now is not about the outcomes of the tourism sector but dependability of the Gambian economy on tourism regarding the future. The balance the Gambians economy needs is to avoid the appearance of caving in to pressure from European suppliers for lower price tourisms (Mass market tourism) in one hand and deflecting measures aimed at economising on the tourism sector that would trim longer-term incomes. Three relating issues need to be addressed by Gambians and the tourism Authorities. Firstly, the surging demands on tourism related developments. Over the past decade much of the private investment has been directed to tourism infrastructural development, basically in the greater Banjul area. Lots of new hotels and private lounges are being seen along the tourism development areas. Tourist markets are now seen everywhere in the tourist areas. Demand for energy is high as tourism related developments are growing strong. While the supply to meet these demands is being held up by fear of international terrorist and higher oil price. Oil might be temporary, however, but the end to the war on international terrorism is still a distance long. Second, micro-tourism economy distribution is a bottleneck in the Gambia. After Brikama, fewer of the Gambian population harvest the benefits of tourism. Capacity building in LRD and Upper River Division is not prioritise when tourism is concern. The finally issue is the risk of future interruptions in supply. This is where the real danger resides. Tourists operators in the Gambia are predominantly European with massive bargain power and the majority of tourists arriving the Gambia are predominantly white, western and very few American. If these white western and the very few American say no to the Gambia as a tourist destiny because authorities disagreed with operators or international terrorism escalates. Perhaps it is unlikely that this will happen but a small risk of a very bad outcome is enough to justify a substantial damage in the Gambia economy. Why are Gambians in the Diaspora not targeted as potential tourists to the Gambia? We are talking about more than a million Gambians and their descendants. Today, The Gambian economy receives annually more than 40 % of the disposable income of these Gambians abroad, an amount high if compare with what tourism brings into the economy. Moreover targeting Gambian abroad will have the effect to offset the low white western tourists turnover in the Gambia. Thus, reduces some of the negative consequences the tourists sectors is suffering from the dependency on western white tourists. Pa Che _________________________________________________________________ Last ned MSN Messenger gratis http://www.msn.no/computing/messenger - Den raskeste veien mellom deg og dine venner ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~