According to Tourism Concern there are going to be 1.6 billion international tourists by 2020 and a substantial amount of these will be eco tourists. West Africa unfortunately is not identified as a prospective contributor to this estimation. Tourism has also been identified as the fastest growing industry helping to stimulate the growth of other sectors in various economies with Euromonitor identifing Ecotourism as the growing niche within this industry.
According to the Quebec Declaration on Ecotourism, ecotourism:
-Contributes actively to the conservation of natural and cultural heritage -Includes local and indigenous communities in its planning, development and operation, contributing to their well-being -Interprets the natural and cultural heritage of the destination to the visitor -Lends itself better to independent travellers, as well as to organized tours for small size groups (source: about.com)
With this notion as a basis, it is evident that West African countries have the potential but yet are unable to tap into the wealth of their nature and culture. Instead they remain dormant in highlighting their strengths. Possibilities are not being utilised. Of the 16 countries on the West Coast you have varied levels of poverty, extremely low levels of growth and consistent levels of mismanagement but there are important differences when looking at the magnitude of these elements in these countries.
These differences are highlighted by the Chronic Poverty research Centre: the poverty rate in Ghana remains high but has declined since the 90’s, on the other hand dire natural constraints like the 2005 food crisis still hunt countries like Niger. The main focus still remains safety, infrastructure and political unrest in most of these West African countries. But unfairly most of these countries are tarnished with one brush. The negative image bestowed upon these countries takes away from the contribution and changes that these countries have to offer. On the other hand their other African counterparts such as Tanzania, Zambia Kenya and South Africa continue to make their mark.
The World Tourism Organization now estimates that global spending on ecotourism is increasing by 20% a year, which is about six times the rate of growth for the tourism industry. (source: http://www.environmentalcareers.org.uk/careers/sector/ecotourism.asp)
Some West African countries are moving faster than others to ensure that they are part of these changes. The current major player is The Gambia where responsible tourism has been intertwined into the country’s tourism dynamics and as a result the objective that has been born is to let tourism impact on the economy through positive means.
In The Gambia the resourcefulness approach seems to be paying off. The apparent increase in the number of stakeholders interested in its development has definitely put it forward as one of the potential contenders to represent West Africa in a positive limelight. The key here is that stakeholders concerning The Gambia are active. The Gambian Government especially has systematically latched on to the importance of a sustainable programme.
From The Gambian government, to the Gambian Tourism Authority, lies an extensive effort to impact upon those formally or informally involved in the tourism industry. According to Euromonitor, The Gambia has introduced various initiatives to improve its future in the tourism industry from increased investments to tax holiday duty waivers. The road to get there has not been smooth sailing: About 80% of inbound tourists are on packaged holidays which are paid for in their home countries (Source: Euromonitor) but the introduction of the responsible tourism policy by The Gambian Government has helped to ensure that efforts are not mislaid.
The Gambia’s natural beauty also speaks for itself. It lays claim to stunning nature reserves, such as Kiang West National Park and River Gambia National Park (also known as Baboon Island), and the historical slaving stations of St James Island and Jufureh offer peaceful pauses from the clamour of the nearby coast. (Source: Lonely Planet)The Gambia so far leads by example. Evidently each country is deeply proud of its culture and nature but the level of effort dispersed differs. Nigeria as an example has dire image concerns. It unfortunately dominates its counterparts with the negativity: from e-mail scams, to corruption to sporadic acts of violence.
It also dominates its other West African counterparts politically and economically (source: Lonely Planet) but it lags behind in its ability to suffice as a driving force in the industry with negative issues being made to outweigh any positive. The potential remains but the drive is lacking in comparison to the Gambia where a stream of stakeholders are involved with various initiatives to cause an impact. An example of this is the ICRT (International Centre of Responsible Tourism) course in collaboration with Leeds university which allows those on the course to learn first hand from Gambian people about current initiatives identifying what has worked and what has not. (Source: http://www.icrtourism.org/cms/publish/97.shtml)
Unfortunately negative factors such as negative press to the non-implementation of effective strategies have only continued to discourage potential tourists in West Africa. The realisation is that the focus on the negativities is considerably deducts from the potential in flux of tourists which could be the positive tonic needed to aid much needed improvements. It is clear that West African countries need to employ the right initiatives if they are to make their presence felt in not just the tourism industry but the unique responsible tourism environment. For any impact to occur all stakeholders need to be fervently involved.
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