The President of Gambia officiates the new tourism Logo

The president of the Republic, His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh the other day afternoon presented at State House in Banjul, The Gambia’s new Brand Identity logo for the tourism sector, with restored calls from him for more innovation, creativity as well as
outlay in the sector with a view to harnessing it’s advancement and development.

The innovative logo, in a quicker and more attractive design, represents typical characteristics of The Gambia such as the River Gambia waters, the national colours red, blue, green the country’s unique biodiversity , and so on. The logo also has a vivid statement “Go, Discover the Cheerful Coast”, which is meant to lure in tourists to uncover precisely what the country has to offer in terms of tourism. This move by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture in collaboration with other stakeholders is intended to rebrand the country as a genuine tourism
destination with good life.

President Jammeh in his remarks emphasized the demand for re-outlay, creativity and diversification of the country’s tourism items and facilities. He voiced the need to create the tourism sector more interesting, and also for the country’s endowed natural attributes such as
the River Gambia along with the Islands to be explored and made use of so as to create the sector more appealing and interesting.

“In many instances we have taken issues for granted because tourism in this country has always been routine. As a matter of truth, if you go to the tourism spot, you discover the same troupes executing the same art. Sometimes you also find the similar hotel build; and this is not
attractive. The tourism industry is a dynamic one and it is not at standstill,” the president stated.
He remarked that it is the group responsibility of both the community and private sectors to work hand-in-glove to make certain that the sector moves forward. This motivated him to re-stress the need for more development and creativity in the sector, pointing out that a lot of beautiful natural attributes of the country could be discovered for tourism advancement in the country.

“We have lots of facilities that most of the major tourism spots do not have. One property we have is the peace and protection, and that is why I will not give up for security given that the country?s growth depends on how peaceful and secured we are. This is one thing that we have most countries do not have. But we have less volume of tourists, less quality of tourists than those destinations that don’t have a lot of things that we really have in this country,” he asserted. He added: “Have we made use of the River Gambia? No! The River Gambia is a gold
mine. We have some of the most gorgeous islands but we are not even advertising our islands. Do you know that we have more than 200 islands in this country? We don’t even have river transport,” he stated.

He then urged the private industry to change its approach, saying that import and retail is what most of them are doing. He stated that one cannot be a prosperous businessman if the person doesn’t want to take risk, lamenting that it is a sad reality in this country that no Gambian businessman wants to take risk. “What is wrong with Gambian business owners coming collectively to put on the River Gambia something that will bring a distinction. However tourism is around Greater Banjul Area along the Atlantic Coast. What do you see, a couple of birds and a lot of bumsters? Go away from the coast where you will not have this bumpster nuisance. If we are not inventive, there is no matter what facilities we have, you can never maximise the benefits from those facilities,” he told the tourism stakeholders.

The Gambian leader reported the tourism in this country might have flourished a long time ago, and expresseddismay that Gambians were banking on foreign investors, the Europeans for that matter. He mentioned that should be only of recent that Gambians are venturing into the field to
build hotels.