The Smiling Coast of Africa: is the smile more than a façade in The New Gambia

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2018-07-11
Language
en
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Abstract
Sustainability in tourism is a situation in which the (perceived) impacts of tourism are within the permissible levels defined by the domestic economic actors, who possess sufficient control over the indicators and criteria. Tourism in The Gambia is lacking in much of this definition. Firstly, domestic actors have insufficient control over the tourism sector because of the large presence of foreign ownership and management. Secondly, the impacts of tourism have created inequality and reinforced existing inequalities within The Gambia. After the 2016 elections, Gambians are optimistic about future economic recovery, in what they call ‘The New Gambia’. However, an analysis of the past development of the tourism sector and current indicators of change provide reasons for pessimism. The policy goals defined in President Barrow’s National Development Plan are unlikely to provide the answer to inequality nor dependency. However, policy makers are not fully to blame, as structural political economic models in sustainable tourism theory remain lacking and unproven in developing contexts
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen