By Sainabou Sanneh & Musa O Bah
As the 2022 winter tourism season kicked start last October, stakeholders especially employees at the tourism development area (TDA) have expressed upbeat about the season after the prolonged Coronavirus pandemic.
Some of the hotel and restaurant managers that spoke to these reporters have shared some of their expectations for the season.
Speaking to Ali Cham who works at the Musa Bendula food and drinks said their expectations are high this season compared to the past two years when everything was slow. “Hopefully we will receive more tourists this season because hoteliers are telling us that there will be many bookings,” he divulged.
Ali who had worked in different places in the industry and now working with a friend to establish their own business in the industry said there should be room for improvement in terms of marketing the destination in other countries.
He said some of the tourists complain about the cash they are paying at the airport which they said is big to them based on this he urged the authority to strike a balance over this to encourage more tourists to the destination rather than allow them to choose an alternative destination, “such as Cape Verde, Thailand which they said cheaper to them.”
He said Covid-19 brought a whole lot of distraction to the sector as they earn low income while others even changed businesses, “the Minister of Tourism and Culture has to improve in pushing the industry forward. We need more improvements in the sector.”
He urged the government to reduce the taxes travelers are paying at the airport, beautify the environment, and station dust bins along the TDA “because these areas, for example, Senegambia strip are areas that we see more of these tourists.”
Lamin Jabang observed that the season is promising and begins progressively, “but these tourists are complaining of the airport security. However, we can see that bookings are very promising this season.”
Lamin urged the GTBoard and the Ministry of Tourism and Culture to intensify their inspection of the hotels for an update.
He alluded to others and said Covid-19 brought a great economic hardship noting that during the pandemic they cannot get 30% of whatever they spend in buying the goods or items they used.
He further advised the MoTC to work together with stakeholders to promote tourism and avoid too much talk “because the country needs ecolodges, garages for tourist taxis and good shopping malls not all tourists like luxury things.
Dineen Yogi, Manager at the Indian Mango Global Kitchen said business was going fine way back in 2018 when they first start the business, “but covid-9 ruined everything too much of lost, flights were canceled and business was slow. We even had to minimize some of our staff because we could not afford to pay them till when things get better, But now we have called them back.”
Meanwhile, she said the expectation this season is to see more tourists coming to the country “so we can all earn good money and a good business. The Ministry is trying hence they trying to bring in more tourists but there is still room for improvement. They have to remove the $20 securiport payment and as well improve the issue of security in the country. Just last week, on 1st November, a thief entered my restaurant here and stole D42,000 from our box. The staff tip money was D10,000 and the sales money was D30,000, the thief packed them from the separate boxes we kept them.”
