Gambia: A unique destination
By YUNUS S. SALIU
A consultancy and branding specialist has described Gambia as an incredibly unique and powerful destination with her quality in the nature, culture, history and wonderful communities, making the country a strong package in branding taking from the responsible tourism products view.
Gareth Jenkins, who was the consultant and branding specialist during a visit in Jangjanbureh as part of a four-day NinkiNanka Trail training programme which was organised by the Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) and The Gambia Tourism Board (GTBoard). The training was sponsored by the European Union funded Youth Empowerment Project.
He said he has gathered lot of information in the country, particularly on what makes the destination different and why it should be attractive to visiting tourists.
Comparing Gambian and where he came from (Caribbean – Trinidad and Tobago), Gareth said he found Gambians incredibly motivated with quality and energy to help the people inspiring both in believe and desire to produce great opportunity for the tourists.
The international consultant and branding specialist said most important and surprising thing to him about The Gambia is that everybody he spoke with is committed to reinvesting in the community development, especially young people.
He said the country’s tourism products and the destination is amazing with a strong tourism potential available that needs to be tapped into. “All these need to be shared to the world,” he said.
The NinkiNanka trail responsible tourism standards and branding and tourism SMEs ICT support is a project meant to use community-based responsible tourism in rural regions along the river as a vehicle for poverty reduction, empowerment of host communities and diversification of Gambian tourism product. It also targets to engage local guides and tour operators in a collaborative approach to develop the NNT as a responsible tourism branded product for The Gambia.
Source: Gambia Tourism Board
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