2015/16 Tourist Season: A case for optimism or a cause for concern

As tourists began to visit destination Gambia for the 2015/16 season after a dreadful and dismal 2014/15 season, we analyse if this long waited season will be of any difference to seasons before or will it be the same old story. As we are all aware, last year's Ebola crisis which in essence didn't affect the country, but the severity of the outbreak in other countries in the region had a damaging consequence to the tourism industry in the entire region.

Thomas Cook, one of the long standing major operators in the Gambia were the first company to fly tourists to the country for this season. And as it is becoming almost a tradition for maiden flights in every tourist season, they were received by executives from across the tourism sector accompanied by a highly animated crowd of cultural troops to showcase the Gambian hospitality and welcoming spirit.

The first Thomas Cook Scandinavian Flight for the 2015/16 Season, Source: Dailyobserver

Understandably, there was a certain degree of enthusiasm among the welcoming crowd, and the tourists especially the first-timers were certainly overwhelmed. It all looked promising for a start, buoyed by the fact that Thomas Cook Scandinavia promised to freight over 200 tourists on a weekly basis till the beginning of March. If other operators follow suit, this would definitely be a very successful season on paper at least.

But the question still lingers, why can't the industry be all-year round or at least stay open till end of June? Given the fact that, the reason why we have the off-season is usually attributed to the rainy season which normally doesn't start until July, I see no reason why the Industry can't be extended to operate for at least eight months rather than six months. It's all down to strategic marketing at the end of the day.

Gambia tourists arrival by seasonality, Source: Dailyobserver

Season after season, we have been yearning and hoping for better visitor numbers and an extended operational season. At the beginning of every season, there's always been the same rhetoric that "this will be a better season" but unfortunately, there's never been a significant progress. And the above figures shows that we are nowhere near we ought to be. As a destination, we obviously got the potential to do much better than receiving under 200,000 visitors per year. Something is fundamentally wrong somewhere!

Like I mentioned in one of my previous posts, tourism executives needs to implement a strategic destination marketing plan that would diversify our target market and deviate us from the much maligned 'sand, sea & sun' destination tag to a much broader and more appealing tourists attractions/activities across the length and breadth of the country. 

Number of tourists arrivals in The Gambia - 1996/2012, Sources: tradingeconomics

Number of tourists arrivals in Cape Verde - 1996/2012, Sources: tradingeconomics

Moreover, if we want to be among the best, we ought to benchmark ourselves with the best destinations in the business. Small destinations like Cape Verde are doing really well in terms of attracting all-year round visitors. According to the charts above, in the year 2012 alone, the small island has attracted over half a million visitors where as destination Gambia was languishing at around 180,000. Considering the fact that tourism in Cape Verde only really started around the 1970s, and we have been around since 1965, we should look at what those guys are doing right to correct it with what we are doing wrong.