By: Sulayman Waan
Hamat NK Bah, the minister of Tourism and Culture has disclosed that his ministry will re-strategize the roots festival that was taking place in the country by the former government under Yahya Jammeh to a new cultural perception.
Hon. Bah who double as the leader and secretary general of the National Reconciliation Party (NRP) made the revelation during the inaugural ceremony of new Board of Ministry of Tourism and Culture (MOTC) held at the Quadrangle, Banjul.
“One of the reasons why I stopped the roots festival organization was to wait for this moment, we are going to sermon a meeting shortly to meet the entire stakeholders in the tourism fraternity and culture so as to discuss how to organize the roots festival, whereby the government will not take the lead,” he revealed before the tourism experts.
He added that: “the Government will try to provide the resources and it will not take the lead. Let the people decide how to organize the roots festival so as to maximize benefits out of it.”
Speaking further, the honorable minister affirmed that some countries have commenced taking advantage of the country’s roots because the people of the Gambia had not being doing the right thing regarding the nation’s cultural heritage.
It can be recalled that ex- president Jammeh used to organize roots festival that was attracting people from different parts of the world to enjoy the Gambia’s cultural heritage such as masquerades as well as other cultural activities like wrestling programs.
Notwithstanding, Hon. Bah disclosed that the previous roots festival was just to beg for money and spent it extravagantly, adding that his ministry would make a stop to that.
“The Government must participate financially in the organization of the roots festival but how it will be done would be a matter of general consultation across the country and Diaspora,” he affirmed.
However, the top tourism officials did not unveil the date and venue of the cultural event in the Smiling Coast of West Africa [The Gambia] but adding its preparation will commence as soon as possible so that his ministry will know more about the looming cultural occasion and holistically approach to the international market, especially the American market so as to boost the tourism industry.
“What I saw in Florida is that, the tourism opportunities existing there [Florida] was booming beyond expectation. I can assure you that, when we put our house in order, we will make a great difference in attracting tourists from that part of the world,” he confidentially assured the Tourism and Cultural Fraternities.
Bah noted that in tourism, security perspective is important to diversify the country’s tourism marketing strategy, adding that now the country has destination managers who are working collaboratively with the tourism destination director general to expectation.
“The country should now develop new marketing techniques so that the destination managers will work collectively to ensure more tourists in the country,” Bah suggested.