Tourism offers much-needed income to poor countries. But who gets the holiday money? This project supports various small tourism businesses and community tourism initiatives to gain a livelihood through trade, not aid.
Volunteers are needed to work alongside individual businesses and small enterprises who are or were formerly members of the Association of Small Scale Enterprises in Responsible Tourism (ASSERT), particularly as tourism begins to reopen after the pandemic. Our partners in The Gambia support a number of these businesses which meet their strict criteria for responsible and pro-poor tourism.
ASSERT (formerly ASSET) was established in 2000 to bring together, advocate for, and promote a large number of small enterprises that are active in the tourism industry in The Gambia. Due to impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which brought tourism in The Gambia virtually to a halt, ASSERT is temporarily not operational, though membership remains. These enterprises include craft market vendors, batik and tie-dye fabric printers, tourist taxi drivers, official tourist guides, juice pressers and fruit sellers, as well as a number of guest houses, small hotels and ground tour operators. This initiative continues to play a leading role in the Gambian Responsible Tourism Partnership programme being led by the Gambian Tourist Authority, aiming to ensure that the adverse impacts of tourism are minimised and that maximum benefits are gained by local people and their communities.
Community tourism initiatives are focused on ways of ensuring that tourist trip as far as possible benefit the communities they visit. An example of this is the Ninki-Nanka Trail, a tourist trail tracing the route of the River Gambia. This is an exciting new responsible tourism initiative in The Gambia delivered in partnership with the Gambian Tourism Board and other stakeholders. The trail aims to disperse economic benefit to rural areas (currently vast majority of tourism benefit is on the coast, between Senegambia and Bakau, with only a small % of the tourism dollar benefitting Gambian people), diversify Gambia’s tourism product by providing new, authentic community-based and heritage experiences that build on the untapped potential of the River Gambia, and create opportunities for tourism to continue for longer than the very short 4-5 month tourist season based on the coast. Communities along the trail will provide accommodation for visitors, are being trained as tourist guides, and will provide a number of different authentic experiences for tourists as they trace the river and travel the full length of the country from west to east.
`During my placement, I met plenty of ambitious, clever, creative and driven people, who are ready to change the face of Gambia's tourism practices for the better. I don't know exactly what I expected, but I kept being impressed by the positive vibe and hope that overshadowed by far the minor challenges I experienced.' Volunteer, Anke
This is pro poor tourism at its best!
Depending on their skills and experience, volunteers will help to develop the capacity of one or more of these small business initiatives. Volunteer opportunities are many and varied in this project. Whatever your skills, you are needed to help make tourism an even greater force for good in The Gambia.
You can also volunteer on this project from home through our e-volunteer programme. For more information about e-volunteering click here.
To learn more about how the volunteer programme works with this project read more here and here
