By: Momodou Justice Darboe
Some hotels are in stiff competition with private residence owners and middlemen over tourists as private properties are being increasingly used as lodgings for visitors, this medium has discovered.
The 2023/2024 tourist season got off to a good start as tourist flights continue to arrive in Banjul every week since the beginning of the season almost two months ago.
However, some hoteliers have complained to The Voice that the relatively huge number of tourist arrivals this season is not translating into massive bookings in some hotels.
Like many tourist destinations around the globe, The Gambia had its fair share of the ripple effects of COVID-19 on its tourism sector but the outlook this season looks bright if the current trend of weekly tourist flight arrivals continues.
Despite this apparent recovery from the pandemic, some hoteliers said private homeowners and middlemen are denying them business by providing boarding services to tourists.
“Tourists are coming in high numbers but this is not reflecting on our businesses as it should,” a hotelier told this medium on condition of anonymity.
“Private residences are now being turned into lodgings for tourists. This is affecting bookings in some hotels, including mine,” another hotelier said under a similar condition that he should not be named.
“Private residences are charging each tourist D25,000 per month. This is way cheaper than our rates. I think the GTBoard should adopt a firm stance against this,” added another hotelier.
According to our sources, these private residences could be found in Kololi, Kerr Serign, Brusubi, and some coastal communities.
“Some of those renting these residences were once players in the hospitality industry,” one of our sources said.
GTBoard has expressed the willingness to talk to this medium about the reports and we hope to bring their version in our subsequent editions.