The former director of Gambia Tourism Authority has challenged Gambia government to help address challenges facing tourism industry amid coronavirus pandemic by giving support to the industry’s operators.
More than hundred thousand have been affected in the industry by the outbreak of the virus directly and indirectly.
And Sheikh Tijan Nyang, Head of Institute of Travel and Tourism of The Gambia (ITTOG) said “our expectation as an industry was for government to give out assistance in form of subsidies, advising banks to put on hold interest and loans taken by industry players.”
“To support stakeholders with soft loans as done in Senegal, Ghana, Cape Verde among others countries in the sub-region. We were also hoping that government will give out support to tourism institutes in recovering losses through the non-payments of school fees as well as supporting stakeholders in address salaries and other overhead issues,” he added.
According to him, many other operators in the tourism industry were also expecting all licenses and tax due to Gambia tourism Board as well as municipal councils would have been waived, adding that government’s promise of giving $50 to workers in the informal sector of the tourism industry for a period of three months are also been left unattended.
“The sector is still waiting for the government to come up with incentives as promised by the Tourism Minister, Hamat Bah at a meeting of the stakeholders, where he promised within 48hours government will make a pronouncement to give support to the industry,” Nyang revealed.
He added: “We are yet to hear any pronouncement from the government on the support government intends to give to the players in the sector.”
He observed that the situation of Gambia’s tourism industry is at a very critical situation, adding that government needs to take the issue seriously as any delay would bring serious repercussions to the livelihood of thousands of Gambians and Non-Gambians who works in the industry.
“We are still hopeful that government will come up with an incentive for operators of the industry as soon as possible. The biggest dilemma of the operators of the industry is how long it will take the sector to resume operations, knowing fully well that our market source depends on an external source,” he said.
