Tourism as a Tool for Poverty Reduction in West Africa - by Sandra Asuming

Every year different NGO’s, and other private organisations come together with one purpose: to raise money to reduce poverty in the world. This gesture extends to the whole of the African continent. The idea of these fund-raising activities is to help improve the lifestyle and betterment for the poor. There are numerous NGO's with different aims to reduce poverty in Africa. Orphan Aid Africa helps families of children at risk of abandonment and gives them secure futures within their communities in Ghana, Igbo Charitable Association Inn is an organization delivering community level poverty alleviation support to people in Eastern Nigeria and creating employment opportunities for young people in all of Africa and the Helping Hands Healing Ministries Inc is also another charitable organisation helping the poorest of the poor with educational, medical, social, and spiritual needs. All of these organisation have one thing in common to provide any help they can in education, employment, security and safety for the young and old.

Poverty alleviation is an important issue for many developing countries within western Africa. It is believed that poverty can be alleviated mainly through achieving higher sectoral growth and ensuring that the poor have a share in that growth. Both the tourism industry and community development are still at a very early stage of understanding what will actually work most effectively in reducing poverty through tourism development, there is evidence that tourism contributes a lot to the economic growth, especially in countries with poor economies through foreign exchange earnings, creation of employment opportunities and provision of public revenues. Therefore with proper intervention, such economic benefits can play a crucial role in the process of poverty alleviation.

Tourism can be a tool for poverty alleviation but the challenge is 'how' and 'where' tourism can intervene to provide opportunities, employment, and security for the poor at the local level and boost economic growth at the national and regional level. It is a fact that tourism is one of the few industries in which many developing countries actually have a comparative advantage over developed countries in term of cultural heritage, climate, wildlife etc. Therefore tourism can be an effective tool to bring about these synergies. By focusing on rural areas instead of the urban areas (capital cities) in western Africa, pro-poor tourism can be used to not only promote tourism in unknown areas but also to provide opportunities and access for both tourists and local residents.

Since tourism operates through different geographical areas such as remote mountainous, coastal and forest environments, it can be an important tool which could reduce poverty at national, rural and urban levels. For example when visiting Ghana, instead of spending all their time on Labadi beach in Accra, tourists can be more adventurous and go on a mountain biking excursion on Mount Afadjato in the Akwapim-Togo Ranges. In doing this tourists’ spending can provide economic gain through the creation of full time or part-time employment, it has the potential to reduce rural ‘out-migration’ to urban areas, or create other livelihood benefits such as access to potable water, roads which bring poor producers through, improved access to markets, improved health or education.I therefore believe tourism is an appropriate mechanism for poverty reduction. Tourism contributes to economic growth, and also has a positive effect on social, environment and cultural benefits; but having said that, it also has it negative aspect to it. Tourism can create high level foreign ownership which leads to a high level of economic leakage and minimizes local economic benefits; however this can be seen in any other industry. This has led to the creation of The Association of Small Scale Enterprises in Tourism (ASSET) by the British High Commission in 1999 and established in 2000 in the Gambia. ASSET brings together 40 small and micro enterprises including craft market vendors, tourist taxi drivers, official tourist guides, juice pressers and fruit sellers. It also includes a number of small hotels, guest houses and ground tour operators. Its main objective is to enable small-scale tourism enterprises to benefit from the industry by putting pressure on the government and local leaders to do more for them such as tax relieve easy business set-up processes and infrastructure development such as markets. Also, through the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the government received an International Development Assistance (IDA) to help build road networks linking the hotels, the airport and the main urban centres.

So, considering the above, with the effect and contribution of the tourism industry to the world and especially developing countries, the continuation and improvement of these measures will surely help sustain and improve the local economies at the receiving end of tourism.

For more information on tourism projects in West Africa which are working towards reducing poverty and creating opportunities for local economies through their activities, visit the West Africa Discovery web portal, or join a community dedicated to travel in West Africa by clicking here.

How Tourism can Benefit Destinations: The Gambia - by Sandra Asuming

At West Africa Discovery we are always looking for stories, photos, videos and articles as to how tourism can benefit local communities in destinations. The following contribution has been put forward by Sandra Asuming who spent some time in The Gambia discovering how, if sustainably and responsibly managed, tourism can have positive effects for underdeveloped countries.

Travelling to Gambia for the first time was odd as I didn't know what to expect, if am being honest, Gambia as a tourist destination was something I never considered when planning a holiday until I entered Leeds metropolitan university in 2008.

Studying international tourism management meant I would have the opportunity travel. The first trip on this course was to the Gambia and the main purpose was to explore the country, as well as discovering the benefit of tourism to one of the poorest country in the world. As a tourism student I have leant that tourism is an important sector in the economy, as it provides employment opportunities for local residents, earns valuable foreign exchange for the host destination, it can help improve social lifestyles. Tourism has been accepted as a tool for development in developing countries such as the Gambia. The industry generates a lot of employment opportunities especially for the youth in Gambia. Through tourism around 26000 people are employed either directly or indirectly. The employment figures are for full-time jobs or part-time job equivalents in the case of persons. These jobs include tour guides, beach vendors and souvenir traders. Tourism in the Gambia is thus essential to the economy and to the people. The end benefit of this is income earned by parents which goes towards their children education and the betterment of their living conditions.

My experience in the Gambia was extra-ordinary as I witness the importance of international tourism; their export earner is a big factor in the balance of payments of the Gambia. The global foreign currency receipts overtake the exports of oil products, motor vehicles, telecommunications equipment, textiles or any other product or service. Tourism jobs and businesses can be created in the most underdeveloped regions of Gambia by providing an incentive for residents to remain in rural areas rather than moving to overcrowded cities. Travel and tourism stimulate enormous investment in new infrastructure, most of which helps to improve the living conditions of local residents as well as tourists in Gambia. Tourism development projects often include airports, roads, marinas, sewage systems, and water treatment plants, restoration of cultural monuments, museums and nature interpretation centres. The tourism industry provides governments with extra tax revenues each year through accommodation and restaurant taxes, airport taxes, sales taxes, park entrance fees, employee income tax and many other fiscal matters. The Gambia has established itself as a tourism destination which caters for people who want to exchange cold weather for sunny sandy beach and sunshine. Therefore travelling to Gambia also has a benefit for individual needs and desires.

The Gambia is a peaceful and stable destination which offers the best climate in the world all year and has amazing landscapes. The country is known as the smiling coast of Africa. This makes the Gambians warm and friendly people with a contagious relaxed attitude to life. A visit to Gambia will give you the chance to interact with local people, try local cuisines, and visit historical site and most of all relaxing on the beach. During my week in the Gambia I visited a lot of interesting places such the craft market, there the local men and women craft interesting art to take as a souvenir to take back home. Serekunda market was one place worth visiting; the place has items one would not think existed. A Gambia holiday excursion consists of bird watching, boat rides on the Gambia River, a tour of the national park to see the monkey sanctuary, eco-tourism for those of you who are interested in the conservation and preservation of unique areas of Gambia.

I thoroughly enjoy my time in the Gambia and there is plenty more to explore there. It is definitely a ‘must-go-and-see’ for everyone. It is important to travel to this country as it helps increase the awareness of tourism and increase revenue to the economy and improves local lifestyles.

For more information on responsible tourism, sustainable travel opportunities in West Africa or just to get in touch, you can visit our web portal at www.westafricadiscovery.co.uk, or connect through facebook or twitter.

Discovering Gambia and Senegal independently

Andrew, a traveller who has recently booked a responsible tourism holiday to Cameroon through the West Africa Discovery website, suggested that we post his story about his journey through Senegal and the Gambia in order to raise awareness to the rich experiences that can be had in West Africa. Of course,without hesitation, we agreed! So, without further ado, sit back with a cup of tea (or coffee, as you prefer) and enjoy the following recount of what seems like an unforgettable experience.

Every time I plan a trip abroad I weigh up the benefits of travelling as part of a group and going myself. Group travel certainly makes things easier, probably more secure, and doesn’t require so much planning.

Travelling entirely on your own can, of course, bring you into much closer contact with the people in the country you have chosen to visit, and every penny you spend ends up in the local economy. I have enjoyed both, many times, but when my partner Sheila and I decided to visit Senegal and The Gambia earlier this year, we decided that we would do this one ourselves.

Both Senegal and the Gambia have relatively well developed transport networks. In Senegal fleets of Peugeot estate cars connect major towns regularly, smaller destinations less often, making travel quick and trouble free. We rarely had to wait longer than half an hour for the seven seater ‘sept-places’ to fill up travelling between major towns, and it seemed that the seven seat rule was strictly enforced preventing overcrowding. For the price of all seven seats it would usually be possible to hire the whole car if extra comfort or a quick departure to a less popular destination was required. French, at least at basic survival level, is really essential to communicate with local drivers - they are not going to speak English. Because of the quite large number of French tourists who visit Senegal, individual travellers are not that unusual.

There are lots of high quality hotels in larger towns, as well as more basic options, and finding food in markets, shops or restaurants was never a problem - as long as you have enough French to ask for what you want and understand the price.In (English speaking) Gambia, transport is by minibus - much more cramped as extra bodies are crammed in - with much less frequent connections once the coast was left behind. Public transport did seem, however, more easy than some of the popular guidebooks suggested, not to mention one UK based tour operator who tried his best to suggest that individual travel would be a totally miserable experience.

Gambia has a huge variety of hotels and restaurants on the coast, including many hotels catering to western package tours, and finding good accommodation and good food is not a problem - a much more limited range of options exists inland, but we always managed to find somewhere reasonabe to sleep. Electricity in most inland towns is not constant, and most hotels will only run a generator for a limited number of hours. We met many friendly people, working hard to make a living from the small number of foreigners who venture away from the coastal resorts.

If time is more important than money, there are plenty of local taxi drivers and guides who can arrange transport. Many advertise on the web, or offer individual fares to any destination in thecountry through tourist agencies in the coastal resort. We took advantage of the services of Moses Coley (http://www.realgambiamoses.com/) who, along with his driver Sheriff, drove us from the coast to the Senegal border in the far East of the country, stopping along the way to see wildlife and birds. You can see some of my photos from the trip on his website.

Travelling with a guide has many advantages. Moses has a great knowledge of his country, and many friends and contacts throughout. He took a real pride in ensuring we enjoyed our trip, we told him where we wanted to go, and then on the way between these main destinations he took us to many out of the way places to see the birds and wildlife that were one of the main reasons for our visit to The Gambia. By arranging local guides from remote villages for a relatively small price we managed to make an impression on local people that the wildlife and wild environment around them did have a value, as well as making sure that local people did benefit from our visit. One young man who took us to the fields round his village (one of the best habitats for viewing birds, monkeys and baboons!) had never seen European visitors in his village before. Moses is an enterprising man, keen to develop eco-tourism as a way of benefiting his village. He has recently financed a local school, as well as arranging inovative cultural tourism opportunities, for example the opportunity to get married in a Gambian village ceremony (try 'googling' his name for more info on this!)

One of the things that stuck me most about both Senegal and The Gambia is the strength of Islam. More than once, our driver would stop at the side of the road, take out his prayer mat, and pray. Driving before sun-up was usually accompanied by Islamic music and prayer on the radio, before the driver changed over to local popular music as day broke. Every town had its mosque, many of them new. I maybe shouldn’t have been surprised by this, but I witnessed a mush greater level of religious devotion than I have even in countries such as Pakistan, Iran and the Middle East. Highlights of our trip were national parks in Senegal - Langue de Berberie and Djoudj near St Louis, and Nikolo Kobo in the East - and the Gambia - Aboko, the Bao Bolon wetland area around Tendaba Lodge, and the River Gambia National Park. We also enjoyed visiting Dakar and St Louis in Senegal, eating good food on the Gambian coast and visiting the small up-river towns in The Gambia.

I think Senegal and the Gambia must be amongst the easiest countries in Africa to visit as individual travellers. Both are relatively well developed, and have established tourist industries, although in both these are concentrated in specific areas and easy to leave behind if that is what you want. With a healthy dose of common sense both seemed secure enough, and in both it was easy to find help if long wait for the next, possibly non-existent, minibus just seemed too much! Why not discover them for yourselves?

To see what unique experiences you can have in Senegal, the Gambia and the rest of West Africa, why not have a browse through our selection of responsible and sustainable holiday ideas on our website. Or if you have a particular query, please contact us on info@westafricadiscovery.co.uk.

West Africa Responsible Tourism Conference MBOKA 2009. 3 - 5 December 2009, Dakar, Senegal

From the 3^rd – 5^th December 2009, the “Association of Small Scale Enterprises in Tourism” (ASSET) in The Gambia and the “National Organisation for Tourism Integration in Senegal” (ONITS) in Senegal will be presenting the 3rd edition of the Senegambia Tourism Fair MBOKA 2009. This is a unique opportunity to showcase and promote the Senegambian Tourism Industry to an international audience.

Tourism is playing an increasingly important part in the development of the sub-Saharan region, not only in economic terms but also in the preservation of their rich cultural heritage and their environment. To develop tourism and indeed the whole economy along sustainable guidelines the Senegambia tourism industry has taken into consideration socio-economic, environmental and economic principles.

For this edition of MBOKA 2009, the organisers have decided on the theme of “Women Entrepreneurship”. Daouda Niang, director at ASSET explains: “Women play an ever increasing active part in developing our economy and to foster and promote this trend, this years’ Fair has been themed accordingly”.

He adds: “Tourism must be seen as an important and integral sector of the economic development of our country – all sectors of industry are inter-linked and benefit from a thriving tourist trade”.

This stance towards sustainable economic development through sustainable tourism is a beacon for the rest of the West African region pointing towards what can be achieved through sustainable means. This being, other countries may just follow suit to make West Africa the next destination for the responsible tourist looking for new horizons, awe-inspiring experiences and learning opportunities whilst giving them the option to give back to the destination they visit.

Visit the Senegambia Travel Market website for more information on MBOKA 2009.

Please visit www.westafricadiscovery.com for more information on our web portal.

New Gambia Responsible Tourism educational trips on West Africa Discovery

We are pleased to announce a new listing on our 'Tours' page! Introducing three sustainability and responsible tourism educational tours from the Gambia, West Africa. They are the following:

Gambia ethical lodge holiday:
Our first addition is on a four day sustainable tour in which the tourist will spend a day with Gunjur Environment Protection and Development Group (visiting Bolongfenyo community wildlife reserve, eating a local lunch and experiencing a cultural performance, as well as discovering the community owned Beekeeping Centre). There will also be possibilities to visit the Gambian Reptile educational centre, to explore Gunjur Village and to learn from the management at Footsteps eco-lodge about their sustainable structure model.

The tourist will benefit the local community by visiting local projects that create local economic growth; sharing culture and tradition and supporting sustainable solutions to poverty reduction and conserving the environment. In addition they will be staying at an eco-lodge which uses solar power and has a natural filtered pool, grey water filtration system and composting toilets to mention but a few of their initiatives.

Gambia sustainability educational tour:
Secondly, we have added an 8 day sustainability educational holiday in which the tourist will participate in a workshop in Responsible Tourism at the Institute of Travel and tourism, pay a visit to Maalis Music School and discover traditional storytelling through the means of the Kora (traditional instrument), learn about sustainable development at Sandele and Kartong, meet local suppliers and visit a community based ecotourism camp and discover local dance and taste traditional food.

Gambia green educational tour:
Last but not least, a 2 day educational tour on which the participant will experience a day with the National Environment Agency and meet with different experts, visit to a women’s garden and debate on issues regarding sand mining and industrial activities. They will also visit ASSET (Association for Small Scale Enterprises in Tourism) members including SIFO – a bee-keeping and traditional home, GiG – Gambia is Good project (including lunch) and a Paper Recycling Skills Project.

The tourist will benefit the local community in their destination by visiting their projects owned and operated by the local people. The visit contributes to creating local economic growth; sharing culture and tradition, supporting sustainable solutions to poverty reduction and conserving the environment. ASSET (Association of Small Scale Enterprises in Tourism in The Gambia) has been successful in promoting small scale enterprises and promoting responsible tourism initiatives. ASSET aims to "bring together, advocate for, and promote a large number of small scale enterprises that are active in the tourism industry in The Gambia."

If you are interested in any of the trips listed above, or would like to enquire about West Africa, Responsible Tourism or any other matter that you feel we can answer for you, please do not hesitate to contact us (info@westafricadiscovery.co.uk).

We are actively looking for new, exciting and awe-inspiring West Africa based tours and accommodation that strive towards the fulfilment of the criteria outlined in the Cape Town, Kerala and Belize declarations on responsible tourism in destinations, and will keep you posted on any new listed projects as soon as they appear on the website.

Until then, please visit www.westafricadiscovery.com or follow us on twitter and facebook.